


A Kind of Magic

by wtfanfics



Category: WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: AU, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Only set in the present, Quite some angst, Robbe was born with magic, Sander is the crown prince of Camelot, Slow Burn, Sort of based on Merlin, but fluff too, it's a roller coaster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfanfics/pseuds/wtfanfics
Summary: The one where Robbe has magic and Sander is a prince but they still fall in love.
Relationships: Sander Driesen/Robbe IJzermans
Comments: 62
Kudos: 216





	1. My Life Has Been Saved

Robbe got off the tram and stared at the large gates of the overly expensive palace, house to the royal family of Camelot. Never in his life would he have expected to visit this place, let alone actually go to live on its grounds and work for the royals. But his mother claimed that it was for the best that he went to live with Milan, the son of an old friend of hers, who worked for the royal family as a chef. Robbe really didn’t care about cooking, so he wasn’t exactly eager to be helping a guy he’d never met serve food to the most stuck-up family in the country. He wasn’t there for the cooking. Not really. He was there because Milan could protect him, in a way his mother never could. Robbe was one of the rare individuals born with magic powers, and practicing magic in Camelot was extremely forbidden and punishable by death. Most people who practice magic study it for years, they consciously choose to risk their lives for it. But not Robbe. Robbe never had a choice because had never studied a single spell in his life, yet he could still move things with his mind and cause things to spontaneously combust. Back home, here was no one around him that could teach him to properly control it, which is why his mother sent him to Milan. Milan wasn’t a warlock himself, but his grandfather was. His grandfather was one of the most respected warlocks in the country, before magic became illegal. King Philip banished magic after a witch murdered his wife, Queen Helen, in cold blood. Every witch and warlock in the country was prosecuted and imprisoned. When a group of warlocks banded together and used their powers to escape the prison, all of them were sentenced to death. And fifteen years later, that practice still stood.

A young guard led him to the employees’ quarters in the back of the palace grounds. The journey there seemed endless. The walk along the side of the palace alone took at least ten minutes. The back garden, Robbe had to admit, was absolutely beautiful. As he walked past them, he admired the various different colors of flowers arranged along the path.

‘So where are you from?’ The young guard suddenly said as the two of them crossed a wooden bridge over a small steam that flowed through the entire palace grounds.

‘Darlton Valley.’ Robbe replied. ‘It’s a small town, not too far from here.’

‘I’m Senne. By the way.’ The young guard holds out his hand for Robbe to shake.

‘Robbe.’

‘So you’re coming to work here?’ Senne asked, the employees’ quarters was finally visible as they turned the corner around some hedges. It wasn’t half bad. It definitely wasn’t close to as fancy as the palace itself but it looked a lot better than the apartment building Robbe used to live in with his mom. The building was three stories high with a balcony on the second floor. The windows were very tall, almost covering the entire wall of a floor from top to bottom.

‘I’m going to be living with Milan. And I’ll be helping him in the kitchen.’ Robbe told Senne.

‘Good luck.’ Senne replied. ‘You’re going to need it.’

‘Why is that?’ Robbe questioned.

‘Let’s just say that some people can be extremely picky about their food, and considering that you’re a newbie you’ll probably join the waitstaff for now.’ The guard explained. ‘Meaning you’ll get the full load whenever anyone isn’t satisfied.’

‘Is it too late to turn back now?’ Robbe joked. The two of them chuckled.

‘Don’t worry, kid. You’ll be fine.’ Senne assured him as he opened the front door of the quarters. It opened into a large open space with a large staircase in the middle of it. There was one door on the left, two doors on the right and another two straight ahead.

‘Milan!’ Senne yelled. A head poked out of the door on the left, which was then followed by a full body.

‘Ah you must be Lillian’s son.’ He said excitedly.

‘Robbe.’ The young boy introduced himself as he held his hand out, but Milan immediately embraced him in a tight hug.

‘Well, I’m Milan. It’s great to finally meet you. You’ll be staying with me on the third floor.’ He had a constant joyous tone in his voice. ‘Senne, thank you for showing him the way. I’ll take it from here.’

‘Alright.’ Senne replied. ‘Take care, Robbe.’ Robbe smiled and nodded as the guard left through the front door.

He followed Milan as he started heading up the stairs. The floorboards creaked under Robbe’s were definitely some flaws. Many of the wooden doors looked like they hadn’t been painted in over a century, the walls were covered in cracks and there was a strange lingering smell throughout the whole building.

Milan’s apartment wasn’t much better either. They entered the main living area which had a couch with a weird stain on it, a slightly crooked coffee table, a bookcase, a desk and a small kitchenette.

‘Most of the things in this building don’t actually work properly.’ Milan said as he turned the light switch and nothing happened. ‘For example, sometimes the electricity doesn’t work.’ Robbe scoffed. Of course, the richest family of the entire country couldn’t bother to pay their employees’ electricity bill. Robbe wondered how people like them became the leaders of a country, and why Camelot was still stuck in the middle ages with its kingdom while most countries in the world had already become democratic long ago.

‘I only have one bedroom so you’re going to have to sleep on the couch for now.’ Milan explained. ‘Don’t worry, it’s a pullout. And as soon as one of the other employees gets fired I can take their apartment and you can have this place to yourself.’

‘Why would you move apartments? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to move into the empty space instead?’ Robbe wondered. Milan shook his head and placed his pointer finger on his mouth, to indicate that Robbe had to remain silent. Then he started walking towards the bookcase in the corner of the room, signaling for Robbe to follow him. Milan pulled on one of the books in the bookcase and it opened up to a staircase.

‘I think your mom told you about my grandfather.’ Milan said as he started to head up the stairs. Robbe nodded. ‘Well for a period of time he worked for the royal family. Kind of as their go-to warlock, you know? He lived in this same building and he built a study to practice magic, and for future generations to learn magic.’

The attic was completely dark, as there were no windows to illuminate the room.

‘You’re gonna need to give us some light.’ Milan told him. ‘Since we apparently don’t have any power right now.’ Robbe nodded and looked at a ceiling lamp hanging above them. He thought about how he wanted the light to turn on, and after a few seconds it did. As the room became visible Robbe saw the seemingly endless bookcases all around him. There was a large desk in the middle of the room with four chairs around it. Robbe walked around the room, lightly caressing the books with his fingertips as he walked by them. There was so much he could learn here. About himself. About his powers. Robbe turned around when he noticed that Milan was still frozen in his place. He looked at the young man who was still staring at the light that Robbe had just turned on with his mind.

‘Milan?’ Robbe said.

‘Unbelievable.’ Milan said, mesmerized. He shifted his glance to Robbe. ‘Don’t do that around the palace, though. Or anywhere else in this house. Magic is for this room and this room only. We can’t risk-‘

‘We can’t risk me getting caught and being sentenced to death. I know, Milan. That’s why I’m here.’ Robbe cut him off. ‘My mom said you’d be able to protect me.’

‘Well, not me per say.’ Milan told him. ‘That’s more up to you. The more you learn, the more you’ll be able to control your powers, the safer you’ll be.’ Robbe nodded as he continued to explore the enormous amounts of books around him.

‘And besides.’ Milan added. ‘The royal family probably won’t expect a warlock to be working right under their noses. They’d never think anyone would have the balls for that.’ Robbe understood where Milan was coming from, but that didn’t make him any less terrified. He knew that coming to live here and working for the royal family would be a gamble. One slip-up and he was dead. But at the same time, the knowledge in these books, and the ability to practice magic freely in the attic, could provide him with protection that his mother was never able to provide for him.

That evening, Milan led Robbe to the palace’s kitchen, where some staff members were already preparing a meal for the royal family and their guests. The palace was even larger than Robbe had expected. They entered through a side door, and had to walk for what felt like forever to the other side of the palace, where the kitchen was. The inside of the palace looked how Robbe expected it to: overly large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the walls covered in portraits of dead and living members of the royal family, door handles made of gold, tall windows with ugly curtains and absolutely no personality to be found anywhere. Robbe wondered why it was necessary for a palace to be so bland. If the royal family lived there, why did it have to feel like a glorified insanely expensive office building? Robbe couldn’t imagine growing up in such a boring house. How could anyone ever form a personality in such a bland environment? In the kitchen, all eyes turned in his direction as soon as he walked in.

‘Everyone, meet Robbe. He’ll be working with us from now on.’ Milan announced. The staff greeted Robbe in unison, and they were approached by a boy who was wearing very fancy waiter’s attire. He held out his hand for Robbe to shake.

‘I’m Jens.’ He introduced himself. ‘You’re going to be my shadow for the day, since Milan will be too busy himself to show you around.’ Robbe nodded.

‘Alright, I’ll see you later.’ Milan said as he walked away, leaving the two boys alone.

‘Firstly, you’re going to need to change.’ Jens told Robbe as he looked him up and down.

‘Into one of those monkey suits?’ Robbe commented, pointing at what the other boy was wearing. Jens chuckled.

‘You really thought you’d get to work for the royal family wearing _that_?’ The boy gestured to Robbe’s causal clothes consisting of a too-big hoodie and baggy jeans. Robbe shrugged.

‘I’m just not really the fancy clothes type.’ He stated.

‘Well you are now.’ The boy headed towards a door and gestured for Robbe to follow him. The door opened up into a storage closet. Jens opened one of the cupboards and handed Robbe a uniform.

‘You can change here. I’ll wait for you outside.’ Jens said. Robbe nodded and the other boy left the room.

Robbe and Jens got along fairly quickly. They discovered that they both liked to skate, so they talked about that for quite a while during the tour of the kitchen. Something Robbe noticed quite early on was that the staff were all extremely friendly, and they made him feel right at home. For some reason, he’d expected the people working for the royals to be strict and annoying, but they were the exact opposite. Most of them weren’t much older than him, just working their asses off for a while until they had enough money to leave Camelot. Most of the youth wanted to leave Camelot. They all knew that there were plenty of other countries that were way more progressive, where they had more opportunities. Robbe wanted to leave, too. More than anything. But Camelot was one of the most secluded countries on the planet, and there was no easy way to escape it. It cost a lot of money, which neither him nor his mother had. So, for now, it was just a question of survival.

Jens introduced Robbe to Moyo and Aaron, two of his friends. Aaron spent most of the conversation gushing over a girl named Amber, who interned for the royals’ event planners and apparently had the apartment across the hall from him. Moyo immediately asked Robbe to smoke weed with the group that evening, which he politely declined since experience taught him that being intoxicated with any substance caused his powers to act up uncontrollably. He still remembers the time he drank a little too much and ruined their entire kitchen, even breaking the teapot his mother had gotten from her grandmother.

After the tour, the time came for Jens to show Robbe to the dining room, where the royals were having dinner with the heads of some of the most elite families of the country. Jens told Robbe to grab two plates of the main course and follow him up the stairs. At the top of the stairs they walked through a door, which opened up into the palace’s dining room. The royals and their guests were sitting around a long table in the middle of the room, which stood under a stupidly large chandelier. At the head of the table sat King Philip, who was in a deep conversation with a man on his right. Robbe scanned the other people sitting at the table, he didn’t recognize most of them. The only other people he recognized were Prince Harold, Philip’s brother, and his son Richard. And then, of course, the King’s children. His daughter Princess Elizabeth, who honestly looked like she really didn’t want to be there, surrounded by a bunch of middle-aged rich men and their wives who had about as much personality as a piece of cardboard. Then there was the King’s son, Prince Alexander, or – as most people call him – Prince Sander. Robbe had to admit, he was incredibly good looking. His slightly tan skin looked darker against his bleached blond hair. He had a kind of mysterious vibe about him, which intrigued Robbe. However, Robbe had heard the stories about the prince, how he would get people fired when there weren’t enough olives on his plate. Or how he was notoriously outspoken about people who practice magic. If it were up to him, any person who was related to a witch or warlock would get killed. It’s not that Robbe necessarily blames him. It was how he was raised. It must be hard to lose your mother at such a young age. Robbe had never known his father, so he didn’t really miss him. Prince Sander lost his mother at age five, meaning he must have memories about her, and he probably remembers losing her vividly.

Jens gestured for Robbe to follow him, which he did. The two of them approached the blond prince, who was talking to an old lady.

‘Just put the plates in front of them.’ Jens said. ‘Don’t say anything and don’t make eye contact.’ Robbe raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t imagine being so stuck up that you wouldn’t let people look you in the eyes. He waited for a break in their conversation, and he gracefully set the plates in front of the prince and the woman. He couldn’t help but quickly glance to his left, to look at the prince’s face and see if he was really as good looking as he was rumored to be. Robbe had to admit, he was dashing. Unexpectedly, the prince turned his head, which caused him to make direct eye contact with Robbe. _Shit_ , he thought. He quickly turned around to start walking away. As he did so, he thought about the prince’s beautiful green eyes. Robbe had expected his eyes to look menacing, but instead they actually looked kind and caring.

‘Jens.’ The prince suddenly spoke.

‘Yes, sir?’ Jens replied.

‘Who is this?’ The green-eyed prince asked as he waved in Robbe’s general direction.

‘I’m Robbe. I’m new.’ Robbe introduced himself. However, he very quickly realized that speaking without being spoken to was a big mistake. Several pairs of eyes looked at him in shock, including Prince Sander’s.

‘Excuse me.’ The prince said. ‘If I remember correctly, I didn’t ask you.’

‘I’m sorry, sir.’ Robbe hastily replied. This is it, he thought. Day one and he was going to get fired by Prince Sander himself. He looked at Jens, who had a fearful expression on his face.

‘It’s fine for now, Robin. Just don’t let it happen again.’ The prince looked him directly in the eyes. However, they still didn’t evoke fear within Robbe, they looked rather playful. Robbe opened his mouth, to tell the prince that Robin wasn’t his name. But, Jens quickly tapped him on the arm and he shook his head, telling Robbe to just leave it. He sighed and followed the other boy who headed towards the wall across from them, where he stopped and turned around. His hands behind his back. Robbe copied him.

‘Now what?’ He asked.

‘Everyone has food, so now we stand on the side in case anyone needs us.’ Jens explained. Robbe nodded understandingly.

‘I can’t believe he didn’t fire you.’ Jens whispered. ‘I really thought it would be the end for you.’ Robbe shrugged.

‘Maybe he has mercy on newbies.’ He stated. Jens shook his head.

‘I’ve seen plenty of newbies get fired within the first hour. _Especially_ if they disrespected a member of the royal family like you just did.’ He explained. Robbe spent the next couple of minutes staring at the prince. Maybe even a little too intensely. He couldn’t help wondering why he had been spared. Why had the notoriously merciless prince spared someone like Robbe. Prince Sander could’ve easily fired him, nobody would’ve batted an eye. The prince had even voluntarily looked Robbe in the eyes that second time.

He was awoken from his thoughts when several of the dinner guests started yelling. At first, Robbe didn’t understand what was happening. But then he noticed the prince was clutching his throat, unable to breathe. He was choking. Without even thinking, Robbe rushed towards the table and lifted the prince out of his chair, giving him the Heimlich maneuver. One. Twice. The third time a piece of meat shot out of his mouth, landing on one of the guest’s plates.

‘Alexander!’ The king exclaimed, rushing to his son’s side. Robbe quickly let go of the prince and distanced himself from the commotion.

‘I’m fine, father.’ The blond claimed. The king swiftly turned his body towards Robbe.

‘You.’ He said, leaving his son’s side and approaching Robbe. ‘You saved my son’s life.’

‘Anyone would’ve done the same.’ Robbe stammered.

‘Your service to the kingdom must be rewarded.’

‘That’s not necessary. It’s fine. Really.’ The king looked at Robbe, and then at his son, who was leaning against his chair, watching the interaction.

‘You will be my son’s personal assistant.’ The king declared. Robbe felt his heart drop. He couldn’t become the prince’s personal assistant. He wouldn’t be able to hide his magic if he was constantly being watched by probably the most avid magic hater of the kingdom.

‘What?’ Prince Sander exclaimed. Luckily he didn’t like the idea. ‘Father, you can’t just make him my assistant. He disrespected me earlier.’

‘I don’t want to hear it, son.’ The king replied fiercely. ‘You need a new assistant, and this boy just saved your life without thinking twice. He seems like a perfect fit.’

‘But-‘ Prince Sander tried to protest.

‘My decision is final.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy my new fic!  
> Let me know what you think!  
> I'll post the next chapter soon.


	2. Good Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbe has obtained a new position as Prince Sander's assistant.  
> He hates the idea of working for such a stuck-up rich boy, but maybe he shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

‘I can’t believe you got a promotion on the first day.’ Milan said as he handed Robbe a plate of spaghetti. The older boy sat down next to him on the couch. One of the apartment’s flaws was that it was lacking a dining table.

‘You do understand that I can’t accept it, right?’ Robbe told Milan.

‘What? It’s twice the pay. Meaning you’ll get out here twice as fast.’ Milan protested.

‘If he doesn’t find out that I have magic and kill me first.’ Robbe stated.

‘Well, don’t use magic around him, then.’

‘It’s not that simple. Sometimes I can’t control it.’

‘Look.’ Milan turned to face Robbe properly, and Robbe did the same. ‘If you turn this down you’re going to look way more suspicious. And chances are they’ll fire you on the spot. So just take the job and in the meantime it’ll be great practice for you to learn to control your powers.’

‘Because otherwise I’ll be sentenced to death?’ Robbe said slightly jokingly.

‘Exactly.’ The two of them are startled by a knock on the door.

‘It’s open.’ Milan called out. Jens poked his head around the door.

‘Are you guys going to stay here all night or are you joining us downstairs?’ He asked.

‘We’ll be right there.’ Milan responded. Jens smiled and closed the door.

‘What’s downstairs?’ Robbe asked.

‘We have a common room. There we can play games, watch movies. Drink booze-‘

‘You’re allowed to drink booze?’ Robbe cut him off.

‘No.’ Milan laughed and shook his head. Robbe giggled along with him.

Robbe was quickly greeted by Jens, Moyo and Aaron when he arrived in the common room.

‘Congratulations on your promotion.’ Moyo, who was already half drunk, said.

‘Why would you congratulate him? Prince Sander changes assistants faster than I change underwear.’ Aaron commented.

‘Aaron.’ Jens snapped. Robbe shook his head at the curly haired boy’s weird comment. But it also evoked some fear inside him. Moyo and Aaron trailed off to the other side of the room, which allowed Robbe to talk to Jens in private.

‘Is that true?’ He asked. ‘Does he quickly fire his assistants.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’ Jens assured him.

‘But it _is_ true?’

‘It varies a lot. Some people last a day. Some last a few months.’

‘ _A day_?’

‘I’m sure you’ll last longer than that. Besides, you saved his life, he owes you something.’ Jens told him. Robbe shrugged.

‘I hope you’re right. I really can’t afford to lose this job.’

‘Maybe you should talk to her.’ Jens pointed at a girl across the room. She had shoulder-length bleached blonde hair. ‘She’s Princess Elizabeth’s assistant. Maybe she can help you.’

‘Thanks.’ Robbe leaves Jens and heads towards the girl on the other side of the room. She’s chatting with a group of girls, some of which Robbe remembers from the kitchen, others must work in other places in the palace. As soon as Robbe was within view one of the girls called out to him:

‘Hey! You’re the guy who saved the prince’s life, right?’ Robbe smiled politely and nodded.

‘I’m Amber.’ The girl excitedly said. Robbe remembered her from Aaron’s embarrassing rambles in the kitchen earlier that day.

‘Robbe.’ He introduced himself.

‘Did Jens send you here?’ The bleached blonde girl asked. Robbe nodded. The girl gestured for Robbe to follow her.

‘I’m Zoë, by the way.’ She said as they reached a more quiet area. ‘I’m actually the girlfriend of the guard you met earlier today.’

‘Senne?’ Robbe asked. Zoë nodded.

‘I should disclose to you that I don’t know Prince Sander _that_ well. I only know what Eliza has told me.’ She stated. Robbe spent the majority of the evening with Zoë, who told him all the do’s and don’ts of being the prince’s assistant. She told him that Robbe was not allowed in his bedroom at any time. Following this explanation, Robbe had asked were he _was_ allowed then, and Zoë told him that the prince has his own wing in the palace, and Robbe was still allowed in all the other rooms in that area. She told him about past assistants. The record stood at only five months, but Zoë assured him that the pay was really good and apparently most of the old assistants were aided in finding a job after they were fired. Robbe asked her why she was still working there herself, since she had been doing it for over a year and should have plenty of money to leave. Zoë explained that Eliza, as she called the princess, was a friend of hers now, and she wouldn’t just leave her. Robbe chuckled when he heard that, because he just knew that he could never form such a bond with the prince. Robbe could never be friends with someone as shallow and stuck-up as him.

The new position forced Robbe to wake up way too early for his liking. The prince woke up at 7am sharp, meaning Robbe had to wake up at 6. Since it was his first day, he was briefed by King Philip’s assistant, who told him where the prince had to be at what time. He also informed Robbe that it was his job to know those things in the future. He was given a tablet with all the information he would need. Throughout the whole briefing, Robbe mostly just sat in silence and nodded. He tried his best not to display the anxiety he was feeling inside. He had spent a large part of the night frantically looking for a miracle cure for magic, which obviously didn’t exist. He did manage to find a simple breathing technique that was supposed to keep his heartbeat low, and allow him to keep his powers in check. He prayed to god that it would work. At least for now.

Prince Sander’s wing of the palace was so unnecessarily large. It was basically just a whole house. The prince had his own living room which was larger than the apartment Robbe grew up in with his mom. Multiple doors led out of the living room, and since Robbe had to wait for the prince to wake up, he decided to explore them. One of the doors led into a study. The walls were completely covered in books across the room stood a wooden desk, which was covered in papers. Robbe felt his curiosity creep up on him, but he decided not to snoop and he left the room. Behind next door he opened he found a bathroom, which was the same size as Milan’s bedroom, and only contained a toilet and sink. The marble of the countertop perfectly matched the grey marble on the floor. Robbe sighed and closed the bathroom door, wondering to himself why anyone would ever need such a stupidly oversized and expensive bathroom for themselves.

Robbe was startled by someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned around and he stared directly into Prince Sander’s green eyes. He was wearing relatively normal clothes, which surprised Robbe for some reason. He knew that a prince probably owned casual clothes, but actually seeing him in black jeans and a black shirt. He looked normal.

‘I’m sorry, sir.’ Robbe apologetically stammered. ‘I was just-‘

‘It’s alright.’ Prince Sander cut him off. ‘As long as you stay out of that door.’ He turned his upper body and pointed at the door at the opposite side of the room. Robbe figured that that was the bedroom he was absolutely under no circumstance allowed to enter. Part of him wondered why. What kind of secrets would a prince what to hide?

‘Will do, sir.’ Robbe politely nodded. He felt like he was tiptoeing around this man. Just waiting to say something wrong and tick him off, resulting in Robbe getting fired. The prince himself didn’t seem too keen on the idea of Robbe being his assistant, so he was probably looking for any excuse to fire him as soon as possible. The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Robbe just stared at the prince. The sunlight coming through the window made him look almost angelic, the bleached blond hair serving as his halo. He somehow looked cold and warm at the same time. Solid but soft. Shallow but deep. As Robbe studied him, his body, his face, we was suddenly reminded of the fact that the prince was supposed to be at breakfast several minutes ago.

‘You need to go have breakfast, sir.’ He stated. The prince looked at his watch.

‘You think?!” He exclaimed. ‘Breakfast started eight minutes ago! Why didn’t you come get me in my room?’

‘But-, but you just said.’ Robbe stammered, but he quickly stopped when he realized the prince had a smug look on his face.

‘Your face, hilarious.’ He said with a slight giggle. ‘Come on.’ The prince led the way out of the room and into the palace’s corridors. Robbe was still mesmerized by the grandiosity of it. But he also missed a sense of coziness. The palace was so big, it always felt empty.

‘So, Robin.’ The prince started as the walked in the direction of the breakfast hall. Which was, as Robbe had learned, not the same as the dining hall. Robbe thought for a second about telling the prince that Robin wasn’t his name, but he decided to leave it.

‘Tell me about yourself.’ The prince demanded.

‘What do you want to know, sir?’ Robbe wondered, unsure of where to start, and whether the prince would really be interested in his life’s story.

‘I don’t know. Start with the basics.’ Prince Sander said. ‘How old are you? Where are you from? What are your ambitions?’

‘Well, I’m eighteen. Just finished school. I’m from Darlton Valley that’s just outside-‘

‘I know where it is.’ The prince cut him off. ‘I’ve been there a couple of times.’

‘Really? Why?’ Robbe asked, but he soon felt like he probably shouldn’t be the one asking the prince questions.

‘I’m sorry, sir. I’m probably not supposed to ask you questions.’ Robbe quickly said. The prince snorted.

‘No, it’s fine. I’m sorry I probably traumatized you yesterday evening. I promise I’m not actually like that.’ The prince claimed.

‘Then why are you so cruel to the people that work for you? They’re just trying their bests.’ Robbe asked.

‘It’s not that simple, Robin.’ Prince Sander replied. Robbe raised his eyebrows skeptically, but decided to stay silent. He needed to stay on the prince’s good side. The two of them arrived in the breakfast hall, where a buffet was set up on tables that stood against the walls. It all seemed a little excessive for the five members of the royal family and their four guests that stayed overnight. The amount of food was enough to feed a small village. Robbe spotted Zoë and the princess conversing at the other end of the table. It was at this moment that Robbe realized he didn’t actually know what he was supposed to be doing. Was he supposed to sit at the table like Zoë was doing?

‘Uhm, sir.’ Robbe decided to speak up and ask the prince.

‘Yeah?’ He replied.

‘What am I supposed to do now?’ Robbe hesitantly asked. The prince looked at him with an offended look on his face. At first, this made Robbe anxious but then he realized a glint of a smile on the prince’s face and he realized that he was joking again. For some reason, Robbe had never expected a prince to have a sense of humor.

‘You’re way too easy to tease, Robin.’ The prince stated with a small giggle. ‘And the faces you make are hilarious.’ Robbe rolled his eyes in annoyance.

‘But breakfast is a great time for you to tell me what I’m going to be doing today.’ Prince Sander explained. ‘And we generally just discuss things that are happening.’ Robbe nodded understandingly. He waited for the prince to sit down and planted himself in the chair next to him. The prince ordered his breakfast and one of the men from the staff went to collect it. Robbe wondered why there was even a buffet if they all ordered the food anyway, but he decided not to ask about it. He opened the tablet he’d been given, and began to inform the prince about all the things he had planned that day. Prince Sander had a busy schedule that day. Immediately after breakfast he had to visit an orphanage which made Robbe sigh. He imagined the prince taking a couple of pictures and giving a fabricated interview and then leaving those kids behind in the orphanage and going home to his unnecessarily expensive palace. After that the prince had to have lunch with some fancy nobleman. Then, he was going golfing with said nobleman. Robbe was already looking forward to the long agonizing hours he would have to spend watching two men hit a ball with a metal rod. After that, he was supposed to have dinner at 19:30 sharp. Robbe jokingly wondered to himself if the prince also had a set bedtime. But then he noticed that he actually did; at 23:00. This caused Robbe to physically giggle, when the prince looked at him confused he promptly stopped.

The ride to the orphanage was a painful forty minutes. The prince didn’t say a single word the whole way there, he just spent the whole time staring out the window. Robbe caught himself staring at the prince’s face a couple times. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about him that intrigued Robbe, that caused his glance to creep in his direction every couple of minutes. The prince had now changed into his regular fancy attire of a suit and tie. Robbe missed the personality that the outfit he was wearing earlier that morning gave him. It might have just been black jeans and a black shirt, but it said way more about who he was as a person than a boring suit.

At the orphanage, Prince Sander was led into a room where several children were playing. Robbe stood against the wall as he watched the prince put on a nice show for all the cameras and press around him. After he talked to a few of the children, he was led to another room where he would be interviewed by the press. There, he talked about how much him and the rest of the royal family care about the children in the orphanage, and how they want to give those children the best lives possible. Robbe rolled his eyes so much at one point it started to physically hurt. He just hated seeing rich, important people pretend to care about something merely for the sake of publicity. Growing up, him and his mom always lived from paycheck to paycheck. And, no matter how often the king would say he cared for the poor people in his country, it had never amounted to anything other than a good image for the royal family.

Robbe spent basically the entire time mindlessly staring out the window. Occasionally looking in the direction of Prince Sander and the rest of the rich people who were being interviewed, listening in for a few seconds before zoning out again. He wondered how he was going to survive this job. He was just a few hours in and he already wanted it to be over. So far the only thing he’d done was stand around and occasionally hand the prince water or a snack.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he was startled by a man’s deep voice behind him:

‘Excuse me.’ Robbe jerked around to look at the source of the voice, and recognized the driver that had brought them to the orphanage.

‘Yeah?’ Robbe asked.

‘I pulled the car around.’ The driver said. ‘So if you could tell the prince it’s time to go.’

‘Yeah, I’ll tell him.’ Robbe replied, looking around the room to spot the easily recognizable bleached blond head of hair, but he was nowhere to be found.

‘Where is he?’ Robbe wondered to himself out loud.

‘I don’t know.’ The driver said. ‘It’s your job to know that.’

‘Yeah, no, I know-‘ Robbe stammered. ‘I was just-‘

‘Just get him to the front of the building, alright?’ The driver demanded, and he walked away. Robbe sighed as he started walking around the room to look for the prince. After several minutes he established that he had definitely left the conference room and started to explore the rest of the orphanage. He looked around in the hallway, but Prince Sander was nowhere to be seen. He saw an employee walking at the other end of the hallway and called out to her:

‘Excuse me.’ The employee turned around and started walking towards Robbe.

‘Can I help you?’ She asked.

‘Have you seen Prince Sander?’ Robbe asked. ‘He didn’t tell me where he was going and it’s time to leave.’ The woman nodded.

‘I’m pretty sure I saw him leave the conference room and go that way.’ She pointed down the hallway behind Robbe.

‘Okay, thank you.’ He smiled kindly and headed in that direction. He passed several closed doors. He debated whether he should look inside them, but figured that was probably a bad idea so he decided to look for a door that was ajar. He came across the room in which they were earlier, where the prince had played with those children in front of the cameras. At first, Robbe passed it, not even thinking twice about looking in there. But then he heard giggling and what sounded like the prince’s voice, so he walked back to the door and opened it. What he found in the room was something he never would have expected to see. The prince had laid his tie and jacket over a chair near the entrance, and he was crouched at a table around which about ten children sat, in only his white blouse and slacks. There were other children running around the room and playing with different toys, but the prince’s focus was on what appeared to be a drawing he was making together with a little girl. Robbe looked around for any cameras or reporters, but there were none. It was just the prince with the children, and Robbe was convinced that he’d never seen the prince that happy. His smile was extremely bright, and his green eyes exuded only pure joy. Robbe was snapped out of his thoughts by a young boy tugging at his sleeve, and before he knew it he was being dragged along towards the table.

‘Are you a prince, too?’ The young boy asked. Robbe giggled.

‘No, I’m not.’ He told the boy. It was his voice that finally made the prince look up. As soon as their eyes met the prince stood up.

‘Robin.’ He said. ‘What are you doing here?’ The prince standing up allowed Robbe to take a proper look at what he had been drawing. It was a really pretty drawing of a sunset. Or, at least, the half that the prince had done was pretty. It had never really occurred to Robbe that a prince could have a talent like that. But, as it turned out, this prince was full of surprises.

‘Uhm-‘ Robbe started. ‘You have to have lunch with some nobleman. We need to go. The car is up front.’

‘You have to go?’ The little girl the prince had been drawing with asked. Looking up at the blond man with an exaggerated sad face. Prince Sander crouched down to look the girl in the eyes.

‘I’ll be back soon, okay?’ He told her. ‘I promise.’ The little girl threw her little arms around his neck, and he hugged her back. After they finished hugging, he stood back up and walked in the direction of the door.

‘Bye, Sander.’ The little girl said. All the other kids stopped what they were doing and waved the prince goodbye. As he left through the door he waved back at them. Robbe sighed as he grabbed the jacket and tie the prince had taken off. Then, he left the room, too.

‘Sir.’ He yelled after the prince, who turned around, and chuckled a little to himself when he saw Robbe jogging in his direction with the missing parts of his suit.

‘Thank you.’ He smiled as he took the tie from Robbe’s hand and tied it around his neck.

‘Your drawing was really good.’ Robbe told him. ‘You’re really-‘

‘Did I ask you?’ The prince cut him off as he grabbed the suit jacket out of his hand. And, with that comment, Robbe was reminded that this _was_ still the prince he though he knew. Just because he spent time with some kids didn’t mean he was suddenly a better person. No matter how many times he had surprised Robbe up until now.

‘Sorry, sir.’ Robbe quickly said apologetically. He didn’t feel like he should be apologizing for complementing someone, but he knew that it was in his best interest to make sure the prince liked him.

The rest of the day the two of them barely spoke a word. The golfing was just as boring as Robbe thought it would be. Something he didn’t know was that he would be the one to serve as a caddie, even though he knew nothing about golf. The only time the prince spoke to him was when he was yelling at him for giving him the wrong club. Even though, a lot of the times, it had been exactly the club that he had asked for. Robbe didn’t tell him that. He didn’t have any unwarranted comments or questions for the rest of the day. He didn’t understand why the prince changed the way he acted around him so suddenly. From the lighthearted conversation that morning, to the silent car ride, to the completely different person he had seen with those kids at the orphanage, to his now snappy and downright rude behavior. Dinner wasn’t anything special either. Robbe was glad to see Jens again, so that he could rant about the prince’s annoying behavior. He decided to refrain from telling Jens about the children at the orphanage, since the prince had clearly been a little distraught to have been caught there, as if he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to. The rest of the evening, he sat on the couch in Prince Sander’s wing of the palace, while the prince himself sat in his room. Robbe wondered why he even still had to be there, but he was told that morning that he was required to stay with the prince until he went to bed, so 23:00.

For several days after that, the prince was cold towards Robbe. They barely spoke, and when they did it was just commands or very short informative conversations. Robbe really didn’t understand his deal. Because if the prince didn’t like him, why not just fire him? He had done it multiple times before. What made Robbe different? Maybe the king was forcing the prince to keep Robbe around. At night, Robbe studied magic in Milan’s attic. The books contained a large variety of things from information on how to control powers to resurrection spells. Robbe decided to stay away from the resurrection spells part for his own good. That seemed like the kind of magic he didn’t want to touch upon. The one thing that probably saddened him the most, was that in all the books he read there wasn’t a single thing about getting rid of innate powers. People born with powers just had to live with them, was the general message. Which seemed unfair to Robbe, because in Camelot that basically meant you were born to die. One of the favorite things he learned about was a spell that could stop time, because it allowed him to get a few hours of extra sleep at night. However, one night that wasn’t necessary. Because however much he tried to get to sleep, his mind just wouldn’t let him rest. So, in the middle of the night, he decided to take a stroll around the palace grounds. Luckily, the air wasn’t too cold. He listened to the peaceful sound of the water streaming through the garden. The palace grounds had never felt so serene, and all of Robbe’s worries seemed to disappear a little more with each soft breeze that brushed against his skin.

‘Can’t sleep?’ A voice startled him, and immediately ruined that feeling of peace. He looked in the direction of the voice, where he saw the bleached blond prince sitting on a bench.

‘Prince Sander?’ Robbe felt his heart starting to beat faster. He figured he probably wasn’t even allowed outside this time of night. He was ready for the moody prince to give him a lecture, or worse, fire him on the spot. But, luckily, no such thing happened.

‘You never seemed like the insomniac type.’ The prince commented, his hair shone brightly under the moonlight. He was wearing a leather jacket, which looked incredibly good on him, but which Robbe found an odd thing for a prince to wear.

‘I guess you don’t really know me that well.’ Robbe commented. As the words left his mouth he thought that they were probably a little harsh, but the prince didn’t seem to mind.

‘I guess I don’t.’ He agreed. Robbe stared at the prince for a little bit, before deciding to continue the conversation himself.

‘You never seemed like the insomniac type either.’ He stated. The prince shrugged.

‘I guess we’re both subverting expectations tonight.’ He said.

‘I guess we are.’ The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. The prince looked completely different from anything Robbe had ever seen before. He looked vulnerable.

‘You can sit down if you want, Robin.’ Prince Sander said as he patted the bench next to him. ‘I promise I won’t bite.’ Robbe snorted and planted himself on the bench. He slouched down a little and looked up at the stars.

‘This is my favorite place in the entire garden.’ The prince stated after a while.

‘Why is that?’ Robbe wondered, turning his head to look at him.

‘It was my mom’s favorite place.’ He said. ‘You should come here during the day. Then you can appreciate it in its full glory.’ Robbe noticed a certain joy in his voice when he talked about his mother, but he could also see the sadness in his eyes.

‘I’m really sorry about your mother.’ Robbe said quietly. ‘That must be so hard.’

‘What about you?’ Prince Sander asked. ‘Do you have fond memories of your parents?’ He turned his head and they looked each other in the eyes, but Robbe quickly looked back up at the stars.

‘My mom never really had the ability to take me anywhere special.’ He explained. ‘All the money we had was needed to survive. She did the best she could with the situation.’

‘And your dad?’ Robbe didn’t reply, he just shook his head. The prince clearly understood that he didn’t want to talk about it, so he left it alone.

Robbe didn’t know how long he spent talking to the prince. It was the longest conversation they’d ever had. It wasn’t too deep, mostly just surface-level. They talked about their families. Robbe learned that the prince was pretty close to his sister, and he told a story about how they used to get in trouble for sneaking into the pool late at night. Even though Robbe rolled his eyes at the idea of a private pool, it comforted him to know that even royals behave like real children at some point.

The next morning, Robbe was woken up by Milan yelling in his ear. He jolted up on the pullout.

‘What are you still doing here?’ Milan yelled. Robbe looked at the time. It was already almost 10.

‘Shit.’ Robbe yelled. He looked at his phone to see why his alarm hadn’t gone off, to find that it was out of battery. He must’ve forgotten to charge it. He jumped out of bed and quickly put on the pair of pants and shirt that laid on the floor beside the couch.

‘Prince Sander is going to kill you.’ Milan commented.

‘Yes, Milan. I know.’ Robbe snapped back. He slid into his shoes and headed for the door, not even bothering to tie them. He grabbed his coat off the hanger and left the apartment in a hurry.

‘I’ll start planning your funeral!’ Milan jokingly yelled after him. He put on his coat as he sprinted down the stairs.

‘Robbe what are you still doing here?’ A voice asked as he passed the common room. Robbe didn’t bother to take the time to look at who said it, but he was pretty sure it had been Aaron. He ran through the garden towards the palace.

He figured it probably wasn’t smart to run through the palace, so he decided to just speed walk through it.

‘Robbe.’ Zoë called out from the other side of the hallway.

‘Oh my god, Zoë.’ Robbe said, out of breath. ‘I screwed up. I forgot to charge my phone, so-‘

‘Well, you better get hurry up because the prince didn’t show up to breakfast this morning.’ She told him.

‘What?’ Robbe asked. ‘Why not?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe he overslept, too.’

‘I’m so fired.’ Robbe quickly waved Zoë goodbye and headed off to the prince’s wing of the palace. It was suspiciously quiet, and the prince was nowhere to be seen.

‘Sir?!’ Robbe called out. He opened every door he was allowed to, to see if he could find the prince, but to no avail. He took out his phone, but he then realized that he didn’t have the prince’s phone number. Robbe looks to his left, at the door to the prince’s bedroom. He wasn’t supposed to enter it. So he wouldn’t. But the prince had places to be, and people would get worried otherwise. This was an emergency, right? The prince would probably get angry at Robbe if he _didn’t_ look for him in his room. Maybe he overslept, too. Princes are human. They oversleep. So Robbe walked over to the door. He laid his hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and opened the door. The door didn’t open up into a bedroom, but a hallway. Straight ahead Robbe could see a double door, he figured that that would be the actual bedroom. There were two doors to his left but he decided not to open them. He wanted to look in the bedroom first. For now, Robbe didn’t understand why the prince wanted to keep this place hidden. It looked like every other corridor in the palace. He headed to the double doors, placed his hand on the doorknob of one of them and flung the door open.

The bedroom wasn’t even close to what someone would expect of a prince. It looked like the bedroom of a normal young adult. A small beam of sunlight shining through the curtains lit up the room just enough for Robbe to make out its main features. The walls weren’t covered in ugly wallpaper, but painted gray, and they were covered in David Bowie posters and a large variety of different kinds of paintings. One of the walls was completely covered with books, records and DVD’s and in one of the corners stood a beautiful old record player. The room had something Robbe would have never expected of the prince: personality.

Robbe suddenly remembered that he was here for a reason and walked towards the bed that stood in the middle of the back wall. This bed was also far from royal, it looked like it could’ve been bought at IKEA. As Robbe walked around it he spotted the bleached blond hair sticking out against the black bedsheets.

‘Sir!’ He said, to no avail. He said it again, only a bit louder this time. Then, one final time, as he yelled at him he shook the prince, which finally caused him to wake up. Prince Sander shot up, looking around a little disoriented for a second. Then, he noticed Robbe, and his eyes widened.

‘Robin?!’ He exclaimed. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Robbe decided to take a few steps back.

‘Look, I’m sorry.’ Robbe stammered. ‘I know that you’re mad, but you overslept and I had to make a choice.’

‘What do you mean I overslept?’ The prince exclaimed as he slid out of bed. He was only wearing a pair of boxers. Robbe wished he could say that he didn’t stare, but that would be a lie.

‘I mean it’s already past 10.’ Robbe explained, he tried to stay as calm as possible.

‘What?’ Sander grabbed his phone off the nightstand. ‘Oh my god, my dad is going to kill me.’

‘Don’t worry, okay?’ Robbe tried to calm him down. ‘People oversleep, it’s a human thing to do. Besides, you haven’t missed anything important.’ Robbe watched as the prince started rummaging through his closet. He took out a sweater and a pair of jeans.

‘Well I’m not people, am I?’ Prince Sander snapped as he slid into his jeans. ‘I’m the prince. And why didn’t you wake me up earlier.’

‘I overslept, too.’ Robbe told him calmly.

‘So you overslept, caused me to be late _and_ entered my bedroom without my permission?’ The prince said angrily. Robbe started backing towards the door to give him some privacy. He really didn’t understand the prince. Just a few hours ago they were having a normal conversation as equals, as friends even.

‘I’m sorry.’ Robbe said quietly as he turned around to walk out the door. He needed to stay on Prince Sander’s good side.

‘Robin.’ The prince yelled after him, but this time his voice didn’t sound angry. Robbe turned around to look at him.

‘What?’ He asked.

‘I’m sorry.’ The prince said. ‘It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.’ The apology surprised Robbe.

‘Why do you do it, then?’ The words slipped out of Robbe’s mouth before he knew it. His body tensed up, but the prince didn’t seem too upset by the question.

‘I don’t know.’ Prince Sander replied honestly. ‘I guess it’s just a part of the royalty façade. I mean, my dad has always been cold and distant to everyone, and I’m meant to be the same if I want to rule this country.’

‘You can be compassionate and still be a good king.’ Robbe told him.

‘Not according to my dad.’

‘Is that why you don’t want people to see your room? You’re scared that people will find out you actually have a personality?’ The two of them chuckle.

‘It’s not exactly the room of a future king, is it?’ The prince generally gestured around the room.

‘I don’t know.’ Robbe shrugged. ‘I think the knowledge that my king has good taste in music would comfort me.’

‘You like Bowie?’ The prince seemed excited at that notion.

‘I mean I’ve heard of him, and I’ve heard some of his songs.’

‘Some?’

‘Yes, some. Space cowboy or something like that?’ The prince burst out laughing.

‘You mean space oddity.’

‘Probably.’

‘I’m telling you, every Bowie song is a masterpiece. You should listen to all of them.’ Robbe noticed the sheer joy that appeared on the prince’s face as he talked about his favorite artist. He had never seen the prince this passionate about anything before. He had to admit, it was incredibly charming.

‘All of them?’ Robbe said with a giggle, he noticed that the prince was slowly walking in his direction.

‘Yes, all of them. I’ll make you a playlist.’ Prince Sander said excitedly. ‘But you’ll have to start with the beginner’s playlist.’

‘The beginner’s playlist? When will I be allowed to listen to the advanced playlist?’ The prince came closer and closer. Robbe stared into his beautiful green eyes. They gave him such a sense of comfort, in a way he had never felt before. He caught himself staring at the prince’s lips. They looked so soft. He wondered how the prince tasted. No. He couldn’t think of the prince like that.

‘When you pass your Bowie exam.’ Robbe could now feel the prince’s breath, he was so close. He had to look up a little. The two of them stared into each other’s eyes.

‘And is that a hard exam?’

‘Very.’

‘I guess I’m going to have to study, then.’

‘Or you could bribe the teacher.’ The prince took one more step. His lips now hovering over Robbe’s. Robbe could feel the prince’s eyes move to his lips.

‘Would I take that risk?’ He asked. He saw the prince lick his lips. It felt as though something was pulling them towards each other. It was like gravity. They were meant to be in close proximity to one another. Then, Robbe suddenly took a step back.

‘I’ll give you some privacy.’ He said. He knew that however much he wanted to kiss the prince’s beautiful lips, he never could. For so many reasons.

‘Right.’ Prince Sander said.

‘If I were you I’d wear something different though.’ Robbe mentioned. ‘As much as I prefer this version of you-‘ He gestured towards the prince. ‘You have a meeting in ten minutes.’

‘You couldn’t have told me that _before_ I put these clothes on?’ The prince whined. Robbe giggled.

‘Sorry.’ He giggled and held up his hands apologetically. He backed out of the room.

‘You’re the worst assistant ever!’ Prince Sander jokingly called after him. Robbe poked his head around the door one more time.

‘You know it.’ He smiled and closed the door, leaving the prince to change on his own. And finally allowing Robbe to breathe and process what just happened. Maybe he was just imagining it. There was nothing there, right? It was just fun banter, nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved reading all your positive reactions! I'm so glad you all like it!  
> I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I hope to post a new one soon.
> 
> (ps: I can't believe wtfock just came back completely unannounced! I'm still shook!)


	3. You Take My Breath Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbe finds himself growing closer and closer to Prince Sander.  
> He realizes that the prince has a lot more depth than he originally thought.  
> However, this might become a problem when the closer the two become, the more their feelings for each other grow.

It was the middle of the night, Robbe was sitting in the attic, reading a book about summoning witches and wizards, when he received a text on his phone. It was from Prince Sander. The two of them had finally decided that exchanging phone numbers was probably a good idea if Robbe was going to stay the prince’s assistant. The text read: ‘ _Most awesome Bowie playlist ever_ ’, and attached was a link to a Spotify playlist. Robbe snorted and clicked on the link. He opened the chat back up and typed: ‘ _So is this the beginner’s playlist?_ ’

Prince Sander: _Of course, you have to pass the Bowie exam first._

Robbe: _I guess I’d better get to studying then._

Prince Sander: _I could give you some tips later._

Robbe: _Later?_

Prince Sander: _Well, I’m sitting on my bench. If you want to you can join me. I don’t suppose you’d be doing anything important at this hour._

Robbe: _What if we oversleep again?_

Prince Sander: _Then I guess you’ll just have to come barge in my room again._

Robbe: _I’ll be there in a few minutes._

Prince Sander: _I’ll be waiting._

Robbe shook his head and giggled. He hated to admit it, but the prince was starting to grow on him. It seemed as though he was starting to open up to Robbe. He stood up from the desk, closing his book. He grabbed his phone, shoved it in his pocket and headed downstairs. As he opened the apartment door a voice behind him said:

‘Where are you going at this hour?’ Milan looked incredibly tired, he was hanging out of his bedroom door. ‘I heard you leaving yesterday night, too.’

‘I’m just going to take a walk.’ Robbe explained.

‘You’re not allowed on the grounds at his hour.’ Milan told him.

‘Well, the prince gave his permission. So I think it’s alright.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, I’m actually going to meet him.’ Milan raised his eyebrows. ‘What?’ Robbe asked.

‘In all the years I’ve worked here’ Milan started. ‘I’ve never heard of the prince willingly spending his free time with one of his assistants.’ Robbe shrugged.

‘Maybe he’s changed.’ He stated. Milan laughed a little.

‘You must be one special boy to change Prince Sander, IJzermans.’

‘Well, I’m leaving. Go back to sleep.’ He closed the apartment door behind him and headed down the stairs.

He found the prince lying on the bench, staring at the sky, apparently deep in his thoughts. He was wearing his leather jacket and ripped jeans. He looked good.

‘Sir.’ Robbe called out. The prince looked up. He smiled when he saw Robbe and sat up straight.

‘You really need to stop calling me sir, Robin.’ He stated. ‘It makes me feel so old.’

‘What should I call you then?’ Robbe giggled a little as he sat next to the prince.

‘Just Sander is fine.’ The prince stated. Robbe shook his head.

‘I really don’t think I could ever call you just Sander.’ The prince looked at him.

‘Why not? We’re friends, right? Equals?’ With that statement, Robbe raised his eyebrows in confusion.

‘Are you serious? You’re my future king, and you want me to treat you like a friend?’ He said with a slight giggle.

‘You don’t want to be my friend?’ Robbe could swear that the prince looked genuinely sad when he said that.

‘No. It’s just that you’re my prince, _and_ my employer.’ Robbe explained. ‘That’s not exactly friend material.’

‘I’m _your_ prince, huh?’ Prince Sander said with a laugh. Robbe pushed him playfully.

‘You know what I mean.’ He claimed.

‘I could have you arrested for attacking a prince, you know.’

‘Attacking?’ Robbe laughed. ‘I barely touched you. You’re just weak. Besides, if you wanted to get rid of me you would’ve done that a long time ago.’

‘Fair enough.’ The prince shook his head in agreement. The two of them laughed together for a while. Maybe Prince Sander was right, maybe they _were_ friends, in some weird way. Robbe wondered if the prince had ever had a real friend. Someone he could truly be open and honest with. Someone he could share everything with. Back home, Robbe had Noor. She had been his best friend for years. The two of them started off dating, but Robbe found out that he was gay, and the two of them became best friends instead.

‘Okay, I have one more thing to convince you to be my friend.’ The prince stated.

‘And what is that?’ Robbe asked. The prince put his hand in the pocket of his leather jacket, and pulled out something Robbe would have never expected. A joint.

‘Are you serious?’ He whispered a little aggressively. ‘Is that even allowed?’

‘No, of course it’s not allowed.’ The prince replied. ‘But I’m the prince, so what are they gonna do?’ He put the joint between his lips and lit it. Robbe found himself staring at the prince’s lips as he took a drag and blew out the smoke. He quickly pulled himself out of it.

‘Well, I’m not.’ He stated. ‘So I could still get in trouble.’ Prince Sander sighed.

‘Come on, Robin.’ He whined. ‘Live a little. I know you want to.’ He waved the joint in Robbe’s face teasingly.

‘If this is a trick to get me fired or something I will kill you.’ Robbe told him.

‘If I wanted to do that I would’ve done it a long time ago, you said so yourself.’ Robbe sighed as he looked at the prince’s smug face. He reached out to grab the joint, but just before he could grab it the prince pulled his hand back.

‘If you take this join we’re friends.’ He stated. ‘So you’re not allowed to call me sir anymore.’ Robbe looked at him with annoyance on his face.

‘Okay.’ He agreed.

‘Okay, who?’ The prince asked.

‘Okay, Sander.’ Robbe said, and the prince, Sander, handed him the joint. It felt weird to call a prince by his name, as a friend, as an equal. But, somehow, it also felt natural. It felt right. Robbe took a drag, and as he blew out the smoke he slouched down and tilted his head to look up at the stars. He handed the joint back to the prince. Sander. He was going to have to get used to calling him that.

‘So how do you like my playlist?’ Sander asked after a while.

‘You literally sent it to me like ten minutes ago.’ Robbe said.

‘And?’

‘And immediately after you told me to come here. So I haven’t really had the opportunity to check it out.’ Sander dramatically tutted.

‘Unbelievable. How will you ever pass your Bowie exam like this?’ Robbe dramatically rolled his eyes at him, and he giggled.

‘Well, you told me you were going to give me some tips.’ Sander nodded, handed the joint over to Robbe and put his hand in his pocket.

‘I swear if you pull out heroin this time or something-‘ Robbe started, but he already saw that the boy was grabbing his phone and headphones. Sander looked at him with an annoyed face.

‘No. But you did just give me an idea.’

‘Sander-‘ Robbe whined. Sander laughed and opened the Bowie playlist on his phone. He handed Robbe one of his earphones, and put the other one in his own ear. Sander pressed shuffle and Robbe’s right ear was filled with music. It was definitely a song he’d heard before.

‘This is Space Oddity.’ Robbe turned his head at the sound of Sander’s voice. ‘The one we were talking about before.’

‘It’s cool to see you so passionate about something.’ Robbe asked, and Sander turned his head, too. A smile appeared on his face. They were now staring directly into each other’s eyes. Sander’s green eyes shone beautifully in the moonlight.

‘I like having someone who doesn’t judge me for it.’ Sander told Robbe.

‘Why would anyone judge you for it?’ Sander shrugged, indicating that he didn’t know. For a few seconds they sat in silence, staring into each other’s eyes. Robbe could swear that Sander shifted his view from Robbe’s eyes to his lips for a few seconds. This caused Robbe to freak out and look away. He stared back up at the stars, appreciating the beauty of the universe.

Robbe woke up because he heard someone unlock the apartment door. At first he thought he must’ve dreamt it, but then he heard the door creak open, and a figure was standing in the door opening. Robbe immediately recognized the person by his bleached blond hair.

‘Sander?’ He said hoarsely. He immediately sat up when his mind fully processed what was happening. ‘Shit did I oversleep again?’ Sander laughed.

‘No, no, you’re good.’ He assured him. ‘It’s only five forty-five.’ Robbe groaned

‘Then why are you here?’ He asked. Sander walked over to the curtains and opened them up, allowing the early morning sun to shine into the room. Robbe could now see Sander properly. He looked just as tired as Robbe felt, but somehow he still looked incredibly good. Robbe wondered if the prince ever looked bad.

‘It’s payback for yesterday.’ Sander said with a giggle.

‘What are you talking about?’ Robbe whined. ‘I woke you up at ten, not six. How is this even fair?’

‘I never said it was fair.’ Sander replied playfully. He grabbed Robbe’s bedsheets and dragged them off him, exposing his almost naked body. ‘Now get up.’ Robbe sighed and sat up, grabbing a shirt that was lying on the floor and putting it on. The two of them were startled by the bedroom door opening.

‘What is going on here?’ Milan whined, he looked incredibly tired and his hair was a mess. As soon as he spotted Sander his eyes widened. ‘Your majesty, what are you doing here?’ Sander and Robbe looked at each other, and they both burst into laughing.

‘Damn, that’s even worse than sir.’ Sander complained. He turned around to face Milan. ‘But I’m here to get my lazy assistant out of his bed.’ He smugly looked in Robbe’s direction, who scoffed.

‘Lazy?’ He countered. ‘I’m not lazy. If either one of us is lazy it’s you.’ Sander shook his head in disagreement. He started walking towards the apartment door.

‘I expect you to be in the palace in ten minutes.’ He playfully pointed at Robbe. ‘Don’t you dare be late or you’re fired.’ Robbe sighed and grabbed his pillow, throwing it in Sander’s rough direction.

‘I hate you.’ He yelled. Sander laughed as he closed the door behind himself. Robbe groaned and got out of bed. He noticed that Milan was still standing in the door opening of his bedroom. He had a shocked look on his face.

‘What was that?’ Milan asked.

‘I told you, he’s a good guy.’ Robbe explained. Milan shook his head in disbelief and went back to bed.

Robbe and Sander had decided to act as professionally as they could during breakfast, since the prince didn’t want to risk Robbe getting fired for disrespecting Sander. Sander had absolutely nothing to do that day, which Robbe loved. It meant he could finally rest a little during the day and not have to be around the annoying old people Sander was always forced to go golfing with. Robbe used to think that Sander just thought people of his age were beneath him, but during one of their conversations he found out that the king is the person that decided who Sander can and can’t be friends with. And, since staying on the elite’s good side is the king’s number one priority Sander had to spend time with a bunch of rich suck-ups he had absolutely nothing in common with.

‘Alright I need your attention.’ A voice awoke Robbe from his thought. It was the royal family’s operations manager. All the other eyes in the room turned to her direction.

‘As most of you may already know, there will be a banquet in the palace ballroom this weekend.’ The woman announced as soon as silence settled in the room. ‘There’s still a few things I need to take care of. Firstly, you-‘ She pointed at Robbe, who sat up when he realized that. ‘You need to get a suit tailored.’ Robbe sighed, which the woman noticed.

‘You’re the crown prince’s assistant, boy.’ She stated. ‘You need to look presentable.’

‘Alright.’ Robbe agreed with a slight sigh. ‘When should I do that?’

‘Maybe sometime this afternoon.’ The woman suggested. Robbe opened up his mouth but he was interrupted by Sander.

‘I actually need him all day today.’ He said. Robbe turned around and looked at him with a confused face. Sander simply raised his eyebrows.

‘Alright, then tomorrow.’ The woman said. ‘Someone will come find you in Prince Sander’s wing of the palace around mid-day.’

‘That works.’ Sander stated. The woman nodded endearingly and went on to list a few other things that needed to be prepared for the banquet. Robbe already wasn’t looking forward to it, but now he also has to wear a ridiculous tailored suit.

‘I’m just saying, you only have to wear it once.’ Sander claimed when they were sitting in his bedroom after breakfast. Sander clearly felt the most comfortable in that room, and now he wasn’t afraid to share it with Robbe.

‘ _Once_?’ Robbe countered. ‘I’m sure if I keep working for you I’m going to have to wear it on many more occasions.’

‘ _If_ you keep working for me?’ Sander sounded mock-offended. ‘And here I was thinking we’d formed a bond.’ Robbe laughed and jokingly shoved him.

‘By the way, why did tell that lady you need me all day when we’re clearly doing nothing of value right now.’ Robbe asked him.

‘Ah, great question.’ Sander replied. ‘You told me I have nothing to do today.’

‘Yeah, that’s why what you said confused me.

‘Well, on my free days I like to go to the orphanage, which is where we’re going today.’

‘The orphanage?’

‘Yeah. We went there last week, remember?’

‘Yeah I remember. I just-, why?’

‘I really like those kids.’ Sander explained. ‘I’ve been going regularly for a few years now. The great thing about them is that they don’t expect anything from me. They don’t force me to be anybody I don’t want to be.’ Robbe smiled. Underneath the whole façade forced upon him by his father, Sander was one of the kindest and most genuine people Robbe had ever met.

‘So…’ Sander slid off the bed. ‘Get up. We’re leaving.’ He held his hand out to help Robbe off the bed. Robbe took the hand and he felt himself get dragged up and towards Sander. When he stood upright his face was barely an inch away from Sander’s. The two of them stared into each other’s eyes, until Sander broke eye contact and started walking towards his bedroom door.

‘Don’t you need to change?’ Robbe asked, gesturing towards the casual clothes Sander was wearing.

‘That’s the great thing about these kids.’ Sander exclaimed as he opened the door. ‘They don’t care what I wear. Now come on.’ He gestured for Robbe to follow him, which he did.

They didn’t get chauffeured to the orphanage. Instead, it turns out, Sander has his own car which he likes to drive. It was a black vintage car from the 70s. Robbe liked seeing how consistent Sander’s secret personality actually was. As soon as he saw the car he teased Sander about how it fit so well with his Bowie aesthetic. Robbe did, however, also find out that Sander probably got his license because he’s the prince, not because he’s good at driving. Robbe spent a solid forty minutes fearing for his life while Sander giggled at his occasional terrified shrieks from the driver’s seat.

‘Who’s this?’ One of the employees of the orphanage asked when the two of them arrived.

‘This is my new assistant Robin.’ Sander told him. The man smiled and held out his hand for Robbe to shake. Robbe wondered if at some point he should tell Sander that his name isn’t actually Robin. But he would be lying if he didn’t admit that he found it a little funny. So, for now, he decided to shut up about it.

‘You’re the first person the prince has ever brought along with him.’ The man told Robbe. This surprised him. Robbe had figured that Sander always took his assistants along on these adventures, maybe even the occasional nobleman.

‘Really?’ He asked. The man nodded, and Sander nodded in agreement along with him.

‘You must be one hell of an assistant.’ The man stated. He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was called by one of his colleagues.

‘I have to go.’ He said as he walked away, waving at Robbe and Sander. Sander led Robbe down the corridor, the one he remembered from the last time he was there. At the end of the corridor was the playroom.

‘Why have you never taken anyone else along with you?’ Robbe asked after a while of silent walking. Sander shrugged.

‘I guess this is kind of _my_ thing.’ He stated. ‘I’ve never really wanted to bring anyone along with it.’

‘You could’ve told me to stay behind at the palace.’ Robbe assured him. ‘I would’ve understood.’

‘No I wanted you to come with.

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re different, Robin.’

‘Different how?’ Sander opened the door just as Robbe asked that, and the bleach haired boy was ambushed by children before he had the chance to reply.

‘Sander!’ A young girl yelled as she ran towards Sander, who picked her up. ‘You came back.’ Robbe remembered the girl from when she was drawing with Sander the last time they were here. Other children came to hug Sander, but they quickly returned to playing.

‘Of course I did.’ Sander told the girl, who was clearly looking at Robbe.

‘You were here last week, too.’ She said. ‘You’re the one who made Sander leave.’ She pouted sadly.

‘Oh no that wasn’t his fault.’ Sander assured the girl. ‘He was only doing what boring adults told him to.’

‘I hate boring adults.’ The girl said angrily.

‘This is Sophie.’ Sander introduced the girl, who looked at Robbe and smiled at him.

‘I want to show you something.’ Sophie said and Sander put her down on the ground. ‘You can come too.’ She told Robbe, who looked at Sander and the two of them giggled. Sophie grabbed Sander’s hand and dragged him along. The girl walked towards a table and sat down in a chair, Sander crouched down next to her, and Robbe did the same on the other side so that they could both she what the girl wanted to show. She grabbed a stack of drawings that was laying on the table in front of her.

‘Look, I’ve been practicing.’ She told Sander excitedly as she held up one of the drawings. Truthfully, it was terrible. But neither of them were going to tell her that.

‘Wow you’re getting really good.’ Sander told her. A broad smile appeared on her face and she shifted her view to Robbe.

‘One day I want to be just as good as Sander.’ Sophie stated. ‘Has Sander ever showed you his drawings?’

‘No, he hasn’t.’ Robbe glanced over to Sander, who looked him in the eyes for a second before he looked away again.

‘I can show you some.’ Sophie excitedly stood up.

‘No, that’s okay Sophie.’ Sander told her. ‘He doesn’t need to see those.’

‘I would love to see them.’ Robbe countered as he looked at Sander. Robbe wondered why Sander was so shy about his art. His bedroom had art supplies scattered around it, so he clearly enjoyed it a lot. And, from what Robbe had seen the last time he was here, Sander was really talented.

Sophie came back holding a drawing. She handed it over to Robbe. It was an incredibly detailed drawing of his mother’s bench in the palace garden and its surroundings.

‘This is beautiful.’ Robbe said as genuinely as he possibly could. ‘You should be an artist.’

‘I agree.’ Sophie exclaimed.

‘I don’t think that’s possible.’ Sander claimed, a hint of sadness in his voice.

‘Why not?’ Sophie asked, looking at Sander with sad eyes.

‘My dad would never let me.’ He told her. She angrily crossed her arms.

‘Stupid boring adults.’ She mumbled.

‘Yeah.’ Sander lightly caressed her head. ‘Stupid boring adults.’

Robbe was startled by a boy tapping his shoulder.

‘Are you a friend of Sander’s?’ He asked him. Robbe nodded.

‘Do you want to play LEGOs with me?’ The boy asked. Robbe looked over at Sander, who nodded at him.

‘Yeah, I would love to.’ Robbe replied. The boy smiled broadly and grabbed Robbe’s hand, dragging him along to another corner of the room.

Robbe and Sander stayed at the orphanage all day. They played with children individually, but they also did a series of games with the entire group. They were some of the happiest kids Robbe had ever seen, especially when Sander was around. Children were constantly showing him their creations, and he always listened to them attentively and complimented their work. It was truly a breath of fresh air to see Sander with children. It was the Sander Robbe had come to know the past few days, only amplified a thousand times. He was genuine. Real. The Sander Robbe wished the rest of the world could see, too.

Later that night, the two of them were sitting on a couch in the front room of Sander’s wing of the palace. They had immediately collapsed there as soon as they arrived, tired after playing with children all day.

‘It was nice seeing you so… unfiltered.’ Robbe said after a while of silence. They were each sitting at opposite ends of the same couch. Their feet up on the cushions. Sander snapped out of his daydream to look at Robbe.

‘What to you mean?’ He asked. ‘You see me unfiltered.’

‘More than others, sure.’ Robbe replied. ‘But there’s still parts that you don’t show me.’

‘Like what?’

‘Your art.’ Sander scoffed.

‘That’s not really important, is it?’ He stated.

‘I think it is.’ Robbe countered. ‘You’re really good.’

‘That doesn’t matter.’ Sander snapped. ‘It’s just a stupid hobby.’

‘Sander it’s not stupid-‘

‘Why do you care?!’ Sander yelled. Robbe was taken aback by his anger.

‘Whatever.’ He replied blandly. He was there to be a friend to Sander, not to be yelled at. He put his feet on the ground and stood up. ‘I’m leaving. See you tomorrow.’

He started hurriedly walking towards the door.

‘Robbe-‘ Sander called after him. He turned around, Sander was now standing up, too.

‘Did you just call me Robbe?’ Robbe asked. He really thought Sander didn’t know his name.

‘That’s your name, right?’ Sander slowly walked towards Robbe, who was now standing still.

‘I didn’t think you knew that.’ Robbe stated. Sander giggled.

‘Of course I know that.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve always known that.’

‘Then why do you call me Robin?’ Robbe looked into Sander’s green eyes as he slowly approached him.

‘I guess I wanted to create distance between us somehow.’ Sander stated. Robbe rolled his eyes.

‘I really don’t get you, Sander.’ He complained. ‘I’ve heard the stories. You’re so nice to me. I mean, you brought me along to the orphanage today. You treat me like a friend. But then when I ask you about something real like your art you get mad at me. And now you tell me you’ve purposefully been calling me a wrong name to create distance. I really don’t get it.’

‘I’m sorry, Robbe.’ Sander said, he was now standing just a few centimeters away. ‘I don’t know how to act around you. You’re not like anybody I’ve ever met.’

‘You don’t know how to act around me?’ Robbe asked, confused. ‘Like friends. Like equals. That’s what you told me, at least.’

‘I pretend that it’s that simple, but it’s really not. My life is so complicated, Robbe. I will never be able to live it how I want.’

‘Says who?’

‘My dad, my entire family, the citizens this country.’ The two of them stared deeply into each other’s eyes. Robbe wished he could look away. He wished he could just leave. But there was something pulling him towards Sander.

‘Maybe it’s time for a change.’ Robbe suggested, his view shifted to Sander’s lips, but he quickly caught himself. ‘Maybe you can be that change.’

‘You really are something else, Robbe.’ Sander said with a broad smile on his face.

‘So are you, Sander.’ Robbe felt himself move closer to Sander. As if his body already knew something his mind was still unaware of. His body knew how much he wanted to feel Sander’s touch. To know what he felt like. What he tasted like. He saw Sander shift his glance to Robbe’s lips, and he moved in closer, too. They got closer and closer. Ten centimeters. Robbe’s stomach felt like it was doing backflips. Seven centimeters. This wasn’t happening. Robbe wasn’t about to kiss the prince of Camelot. He must be dreaming. Five centimeters. What would he taste like? Would his lips be as soft as they looked? Three centimeters. Two.

They were started by the door behind them opening. The both of them immediately took a step back and they looked at the person standing in the doorway. It was the king’s assistant.

‘Your father needs you.’ He told Sander.

‘Okay, I’m coming.’ Sander walked past Robbe, not even glancing in his direction. Their shoulders brushed against each other. The door closed in front of Robbe’s nose. And, with that, he was left alone. Standing in an empty room. Wondering what would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted. Wondering if Sander felt what he felt.

‘Robbe!’ Milan called from downstairs. Robbe stood up from his table, closed the book in front of him and walked down the staircase to greet his roommate.

‘Hey, you’re back.’ He said when he walked through the bookcase door. He saw Milan standing over a bag of leftover food from the kitchen.

‘Do you want anything?’ Milan asked. Robbe walked over.

‘What do you have?’ He asked.

‘Some chicken and potatoes.’ Milan told him. Robbe shook his head.

‘No, thanks.’ Milan shrugged and put the container with food in the microwave. They both stood in silence for a while, with only the hum of the microwave filling the room.

‘Hey, Milan.’ Robbe finally broke the silence.

‘Yeah?’ Milan shifted his glance from the microwave timer to Robbe.

‘I think I need to quit my job.’ Robbe had been thinking about this all day. Well, he’d actually been thinking about it for a few days, but now he only felt the urgency more.

‘Why is that?’ Milan asked. ‘Prince Sander isn’t being a dick again, right?’

‘No, no.’ Robbe assured him. ‘No he’s great. That’s kind of the problem.’

‘I don’t understand-‘

‘I’m starting to care for him.’ Robbe explained. It was an understatement, but he figured he probably shouldn’t tell Milan about how they almost kissed. ‘And I’m pretty sure he’s starting to care for me. He trusts me, but I’m always betraying him. I’m always hiding who I really am from him. He doesn’t deserve that.’

‘Robbe-‘ Milan started, putting a hand on Robbe’s shoulder. ‘It’s not your fault that you were born with magic. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it. And he’s the one who wants to kill innocent people because they posses magic, so if anyone should be feeling guilty it’s him.’

‘I just don’t know if I can keep doing this-‘ Robbe was startled by smoke that was coming from the microwave, after which a flame quickly appeared.

‘Shit!’ Robbe called out, he pointed at the microwave. Milan turned around to look at it.

‘Oh, fuck.’ He yelled.

‘Where’s the fire extinguisher?’ Robbe yelled panicked.

‘We don’t have one.’

‘What?!’ Without another second of hesitation he held out his hand, and focused his entire mind on the fire. He felt the fire become an extension of himself. He could control it. So he swiftly closed his hand into a fist, making the fire disappear into thin air. He breathed out slowly. He heard Milan speak to him, but he didn’t pay any attention to what he said. He just stared down at his hand, and at the microwave. He had now been studying magic for a while, but he wasn’t able to practice it. He was surprised at how easily he could use his powers. It frightened him, even. He turned around, and headed towards the bookcase. He could tell that Milan was looking at him confused, but he didn’t care. He just needed to be alone. To think.

Robbe felt so guilty for betraying Sander like this. But he also knew that Milan was right. It wasn’t his fault. He shouldn’t let his magic keep him from living his life. He had been learning to control it. There was no reason for Sander or anyone to ever find out about it. This secret was for him and him alone. He never wanted to practice magic, and he never really planned to use it. Only in emergencies like today. If it were up to Robbe, he would’ve gotten rid of his powers long ago.

So Robbe still found himself at the banquet that weekend. In a perfectly tailored suit. Him and Sander hadn’t spoken a single word about what happened that night. It almost made Robbe believe that it had all been a dream. But the way Sander looked at him from across the room sometimes, the stolen glances, the playful flirting, all made Robbe remember that it had been very real. It was for the best that they never talked about it. That their feelings stayed hidden. Because Robbe feared what would happen if they really acted on them. Maybe Sander had been right about keeping distance between them. Maybe Sander should have just treated Robbe the same as all his other assistants. Maybe then Robbe wouldn’t be having these feelings.

Time went by incredibly slowly. Robbe mostly just stood by the side with some of the other assistants, patiently waiting until the stuck-up rich men they worked for needed them. Luckily, Zoë regularly came around to talk to him and make his life a little less miserable.

‘Trust me when I tell you these banquets aren’t the worst events.’ She said.

‘Wow, thanks, that makes me feel so much better.’ Robbe said sarcastically. Zoë giggled.

‘I’m just saying. Weddings are the types of events you don’t want to attend.’ She explained. ‘Rich people’s weddings last forever.’

‘I’ll make sure to tell Sander that he’ll need to find a replacement if he ever needs to attend any of those.’ Robbe joked. Zoë smiled broadly and chuckled.

‘What?’ Robbe asked.

‘You called him Sander.’ She stated.

‘Well, that’s his name.’

‘I remember when I told you about how close I was with Eliza you were very certain you could never have such a bond with the prince.’ She said with a giggle.

‘So, I was wrong.’ Robbe told her.

‘I mean, he even took you on one of his secret daytrips. That’s uncharted territory.’

‘What can I say? I must be a great assistant.’

‘Must be. Eliza and I have been speculating for months about what Sander does on his daytrips.’ She leaned in closer. ‘So tell me, what did you do?’

‘If I told you they wouldn’t be _secret_ daytrips, would they?’ Robbe teased. Zoë crossed her arms dramatically and looked at Robbe with a mock-angry expression on her face. Robbe just smiled and shrugged. Zoë looked around the room, and spotted the princess waving at her to come.

‘Eliza needs me.’ She told Robbe. ‘I’ll talk to you later.’

‘Alright.’ Robbe replied and she walked off. Leaving Robbe alone again. Sander didn’t need Robbe nearly as much as Eliza needed Zoë. Maybe Sander just wasn’t the needy type, or maybe he was just trying his best to maintain distance between himself and Robbe. Either way, Robbe had to endure the most boring night of his life. Occasionally he glanced over at the bleach blond boy who was conversing with important people on the other side of the room. Robbe had to admit that he looked incredibly good in his fancy royal attire. Sander had spent most of the afternoon complaining about it and how stupid it was that he had to wear it, but it definitely made him look incredibly attractive.

After what felt like an eternity, Robbe found himself inspecting the ballroom ceiling. He admired the pattern that was painted on it. It was very bold and colorful, and far from boring. It wasn’t the type of ceiling Robbe would expect in the palace.

‘Do you like it?’ A voice startled him. He looked at the source of the voice and found Sander looking at him.

‘I do, actually.’ Robbe told him. ‘It really doesn’t fit the aesthetic of the rest of the palace.’ He glanced back up at the ceiling to look at it further.

‘That’s because the rest of the palace is boring.’ Sander stated. ‘And I thought this ceiling deserved better.’ Robbe immediately looked at him.

‘You made it?’ He asked in awe. Sander nodded shyly.

‘This ceiling used to be the only white one in the entire palace.’ He explained. ‘I think there was a fire here once, ages ago, and when they rebuilt it they didn’t bother to paint the ceiling. I’ve always loved art, and before she died my mother promised me we’d paint this ceiling together someday.’

‘That’s so sweet.’ Robbe said.

‘It took me a while to convince my father to let me paint it. But eventually he caved.’

‘It’s beautiful, Sander.’ Robbe looked him in the eyes. ‘Truly.’ He smiled.

‘What time is it?’ He asked. Robbe grabbed his phone out of his pocket and showed it to Sander. It was 21:21. Meaning the banquet wasn’t even close to finished yet.

‘I’m bored.’ Sander stated. ‘We should get out of here.’

‘What?’ Robbe asked with a giggle. ‘We can’t just leave.’

‘Of couse we can.’ Sander countered. ‘Come on.’ He gestured for Robbe to follow him.

‘People will notice that you’re gone.’ Robbe told him.

‘So?’ Sander asked. ‘We’ll just tell them I wasn’t feeling well.’ Robbe sighed and irritably looked at him.

‘Come on.’ He urged. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’ Robbe finally decided that fighting him was useless, so he followed Sander out of the ballroom. The corridor was dark and silent. The only source of light was the moon, and the only sound was faint voices coming from the ballroom.

‘Where are we going?’ Robbe asked. Sander didn’t reply, he merely raised his eyebrows suspiciously and kept walking. Robbe sighed deeply, ever so annoyed by Sander and his mysterious shenanigans. But he would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t enjoy his adventures with Sander. When the blond boy turned a corner Robbe followed.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ Robbe asked when Sander started heading down set of stairs.

‘Don’t you trust me?’ Sander looked up at him with his sad puppy eyes.

‘I do, I just-‘

‘Come on, then.’ Sander started heading further down the stairs, and of course Robbe followed. Robbe couldn’t tell where they were at all, since the entire room was pitch black. He couldn’t even see Sander.

‘Where are we?’ Robbe wondered out loud.

‘It’s a surprise.’ Sander’s voice sounded.

‘Where’s the light switch?’ Robbe asked.

‘What, are you scared of the dark?’

‘No, of course not. But I seeing where I am and where I’m going.’

‘You’re scared.’ Sander joked.

‘I’m not scared!’ Robbe exclaimed.

‘Fine, scaredy-cat I’ll turn on the lights.’ Robbe heard a light switch and the entire room lit up. It was a swimming pool. Sander had brought him to the swimming pool.

‘Are you serious?’ He looked at Sander, who was standing at the edge of the pool.

‘Come on.’ Sander urged him to come forward.

‘What are we doing here?’

‘Swimming of course.’ Sander started taking off his jacket.

‘What? No.’ Robbe stated. ‘We can’t go swimming.’

‘Of course we can.’ Sander took off his undershirt, leaving his chest completely bare. Robbe had seen Sander shirtless on numerous occasions, but somehow this time felt different. Robbe sighed and walked towards the edge of the pool, standing next to Sander. He took off his tie, suit jacket and blouse first.

‘It’s really cold in here.’ Robbe complained. ‘A multi-million dollar palace and you can’t even afford central heating?’ Sander laughed as he took off his shoes and pants. Leaving only his underpants.

‘You need to stop complaining so much.’ Sander stated as he took off the last piece of clothing on his body, leaving him completely naked. He gracefully jumped into the pool. His head coming up almost immediately.

‘It’s not that cold.’ He claimed. ‘Come on.’ Robbe sighed and took off his shoes and pants too, but he left on his boxers. As he was about to jump into the pool, Sander interrupted him.

‘No, no, no.’ He said. ‘All the way or no way. Come on.’ Robbe hesitated for a second, but gave in quickly. He held Sander’s gaze, looking directly into his eyes as he slid off his underpants and jumped into the pool. Sander had lied. It was freezing.

‘Fuck!’ Robbe yelled when he came up. ‘It’s so cold.’ He started moving around in the water rapidly to warm up his body. Sander laughed at the sight.

‘Can you even swim?’ He joked.

‘Fuck you, I’m an excellent swimmer.’

‘Are you?’

‘I’m probably a better swimmer than you.’ Robbe playfully splashed Sander with water. Who looked at him with an annoyed expression on his face.

‘I seriously doubt that.’ Sander claimed.

‘It’s true.’

‘You know what? Let’s make a bet.’

‘What kind of bet?’

‘Who can hold their breath under water the longest.’

‘What does the winner get?’

‘The winner will decide. Which will be me.’

‘I’m gonna beat your ass.’ Robbe splashed water at him again.

‘On the count of three.’

‘One.’

‘Two.’

‘Three.’ They both took deep breaths and dove underwater. Robbe stared at the man in front of him, who was staring back. His bleach blond hair flowing around in the water. His green eyes staring at him. As if they were looking right into his soul. Sander lightly pushed Robbe, and Robbe pushed him back. Each of them trying to get the other to go to the surface. The next thing Robbe saw was Sander’s green eyes getting closer and closer. Robbe’s eyes widened as Sander’s lips touched his ever so lightly. Surprised, Robbe pushed him away and swam to the top. He breathed in deeply.

‘I won!’ Sander exclaimed as soon as he reached the surface.

‘What?’ Robbe countered. ‘No you didn’t! You cheated.’

‘I didn’t know there were any rules.’ Sander claimed.

‘No. It’s not fair. We have to do it again.’

‘ _Again_?’

‘Again. On the count of three, okay?’

‘One. Two. Three.’ The two submerged themselves in water again. Never taking their eyes off each other for a second. Robbe could feel that this time was different. Because Robbe felt his body move towards Sander’s, like two magnets being pulled together. It felt so natural. So right. Robbe swam to Sander full of determination. He knew with every bone in his body that this was right. That this was what he wanted. His hands moved up to cup Sander’s head, while he saw Sander’s hands do the same. Their lips touched. But this time it wasn’t just for a brief moment. The kiss started off slow as they moved to the surface of the water. When they reached the top of the water and Robbe could take a breath again, it wasn’t like any breath he had ever taken before. It felt as though this was the first time in his life he could really, properly, breathe. Sander’s lips were exactly as soft and tender as Robbe had imagined. He tasted like a mixture of champagne and chocolate. Robbe felt Sander’s hand pull at his hair, his other hand on Robbe’s hip. There had been so much build up to this moment. So many stolen glances. So many tender moments. But none of those could have prepared Robbe for how this would feel. How _right_ it would feel. As if they were two puzzle pieces. In that moment, Robbe didn’t have a single worry on his mind. It was as though the whole world had disappeared, and they were alone in their own little universe. Finally touching each other. Finally tasting each other. Finally feeling each other. And there was nowhere Robbe would rather be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly and deeply want to thank everyone who left all those nice comments on the previous chapter.  
> You are all so amazing and I'm so happy you enjoy reading my fic.  
> I love reading all your comments so much it really makes my day so feel free to leave them again on this chapter!
> 
> I hope you all are doing well in these strange times.  
> Take care of yourselves and each other. Stay safe.  
> Writing really helps keep me sane right now, so try to find something you enjoy doing to help pass the time!
> 
> Sending all my love!


	4. Hammer to Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbe and Sander are living in their own beautiful bubble.  
> At least for now.  
> But there's a lot of complications that come with being the future king's secret lover.

Never in a million years would Robbe have thought that he’d be lying in bed with Prince Sander, Sander’s feet on the pillow, Robbe’s legs dangling over the bed, each of they laying in the other’s elbow crease. And yet, there was no place Robbe would rather be. It just felt so right. So natural. As if his entire life had led up to this point. The two of them had been lying in bed for hours, having thought of the excuse that Sander was feeling sick and had to stay in bed all day. And they did stay in bed all day, talking about everything and nothing. For just a few hours, Robbe forgot about the outside world. He forgot about the fact that Sander was the heir to the throne, the future king of Camelot, and that Robbe was born with magic, and should therefore fear a member of the royal family instead of lay in his bed.

‘Have you ever seen Romeo and Juliet?’ Robbe’s hand subconsciously playing with the older boy’s bleached blond hair.

‘The play?’ Sander asked. Robbe giggled.

‘No the movie.’ Sander’s confused expression told Robbe that it didn’t ring a bell. ‘With Leonardo DiCaprio?’ He tried, Sander shook his head.

‘I haven’t watched a lot of movies.’ He explained.

‘Well you should watch this one.’ Robbe stated. ‘It’s fucking beautiful.’

‘We could watch it together sometime.’ Sander suggested.

‘We could.’

‘You know.’ Sander started. ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a movie.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I feel like I’m an actor, and everyone around me directs me on what to do and what to say. How to live my life.’

‘You don’t like being a prince?’

‘No.’ Sander stated confidently. ‘I never asked for any of this, I just want to live a normal life. Now I have to be king and rule a country.’

‘You don’t want to be king?’

‘Of this corrupt hellhole? Absolutely not.’

‘But as king can’t you change things?’ Sander giggled at the question.

‘I wish it were that simple, but we have people to please. We act like my dad is the one with power, but in reality is this country’s elite. They’re the ones pulling all the strings.’

‘Maybe you could be the king that changes everything.’ Sander scoffed. The two of them laid in silence a little, staring at the ceiling.

‘So what would you do, if you could do anything you wanted?’ Robbe broke the silence. Sander hummed silently as he thought about the question.

‘I’d want to college’ He stated. ‘Then travel the world and settle down in a big city, surrounded by millions of people. Live in a cute little studio apartment with the love of my life.’ As he said those words his glance shifted to Robbe, they looked each other in the eyes and smiled.

‘What would you want to study?’ Robbe asked. Sander shyly shifted his glance. ‘What? Tell me.’ Robbe insisted, lightly shoving him. He wondered what the other boy would be so embarrassed about.

‘You’re going to think it’s stupid.’ Sander claimed.

‘What? Of course not.’

‘It’s not anything cool like medicine or something.’

‘Just tell me.’ Robbe insisted, his curiosity almost eating him up.

‘Art.’ Sander mumbled.

‘That’s amazing!’ Robbe exclaimed. Sander sat up, leaning against the back of the bed.

‘You think so?’ He asked. Robbe sat up, too. He scooted a bit towards Sander.

‘Yeah, absolutely. I saw your drawings at the orphanage, and the ceiling you painted. You’re really talented.’ With that, Sander’s face lit up.

‘Really?’

‘Absolutely. You’re clearly very passionate about it. Why are you so embarrassed about it?’ Sander looked down, turning red.

‘Everyone always tells me it’s a waste of time. Especially my dad. A prince has better things to do with his time.’ With the last part, he looked back up and into Robbe’s eyes. Robbe softly put his hand on Sander’s cheek.

‘I’m not your dad.’ He stated. ‘I’m not going to judge you. I think it’s great that you’re this passionate about something.’ Robbe wanted to continue speaking, but before he knew it his lips were met by Sander’s. He instinctively closed his eyes, being completely consumed by the blond boy’s touch. His hand moved from Sander’s chest to his neck and then the back of his head. He lightly caressed Sander’s hair. He felt an arm wrap around his waste and pull him forward.

‘I want to show you something.’ Sander said after he abruptly ended the kiss. He slid off the side of the bed.

‘What?’ Robbe asked. Before he knew it, he was being pulled up off the bed by his arm.

‘Come on.’ Sander pulled Robbe upright.

‘Where are we going?’ Robbe whined as Sander started pulling Robbe in the direction of the door. ‘Please say we’re not going swimming again.’ Sander laughed.

‘Just come.’ He urged. Robbe sighed and let himself be led out of the room. Sander shifted his hand, so that his fingers were intertwined with Robbe’s.

They didn’t walk very far, in the hallway leading to Sander’s room, there were two other doors. Robbe had never bothered to ask what was in either of them, but Sander stopped in front of the door. Robbe waited for him to turn the doorknob, but he remained still for a few seconds, just staring at the door.

‘Everything okay?’ Robbe asked. Sander looked at him.

‘Yeah, I just…’ He started. ‘Don’t judge me, okay?’

‘Hey.’ Robbe put his free hand on Sander’s cheek. ‘I would never.’ He wondered what Sander was so scared to show him. Sander reached for the doorknob and turned it. Leading Robbe into the room. It was an art studio, about the same size as the bedroom. One of the walls was covered in a multi-colored mural, the rest of the walls were white but barely visible because of all the paintings and drawings covering them. The sun was shining in through the large windows, which looked over the palace garden. In front of one of the windows stood an easel. Robbe could feel a broad smile appear on his face.

‘This is so cool.’ He exclaimed, looking around in wonder, inspecting every art piece.

‘You really think so?’ Sander beamed.

‘Absolutely.’ Robbe told him. ‘You are so talented.’ He slowly let go of Sander’s hand to be able to move around the show more freely. The room was a big mess, with art supplies cluttered all over the floor and shelves. He walked over to a desk in the corner of the room, which was covered in drawings.

‘I’ve never showed it to anyone before.’ Sander stated.

‘Not anyone?’

‘Well, my dad knows that I made this room into an art studio, but he’s never actually been here.’ Robbe took the time to look at every drawing and painting he came across.

‘That’s a shame.’ He stated. ‘This place is amazing.’ He neared the desk, and on top of it he spotted a drawing of himself. A big smile appeared on his face.

‘You drew me?’ He asked, holding up the drawing. He then noticed a whole stack of drawings of his face.

‘Oh, god.’ Sander rushed towards Robbe and snatched the drawing out of his hand. ‘I’m sorry I should have cleaned up before I brought you here. You must think I’m so creepy.’

‘What? No, not at all.’ Robbe shook his head. He spread out all the drawings Sander made of him. They were all so detailed. He could feel Sander’s presence behind him, watching what Robbe was doing over his shoulder.

‘They’re so good.’ He assured Sander. ‘When did you draw them?’

‘Uhm…’ The older boy started. ‘I drew this one the night after we first met.’ He leaned forward and held up one of the drawings. Robbe turned around to face him with a big grin.

‘You drew me the day we met?’ He said teasingly, but at the same time with endearment. Sander looked at his feel and blushed.

‘Yeah I know I can be a little too much, I just get-‘

‘What?’ Robbe cut him off. ‘You’re not too much. Not to me. I’m flattered. Truly. You’re an amazing artist, Sander.’ The other boy looked up, and their eyes met.

‘I just don’t want to scare you away.’ He stated.

‘Scare me away?’ Robbe chuckled. ‘Don’t you think I would’ve already left if that were possible?’ Sander laughed along with him.

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

Robbe listened as Sander passionately talked about all the art in his studio, it made him so happy to see Sander happy. After that, the prince demanded that Robbe pose for him, which he gleefully did. After that, they stayed in bed all day and night. They talked about everything and anything. But sometimes, no words were needed. They would just lay together in silence, holding each other, touching each other, being with each other. And, for a few hours, they weren’t a prince and commoner hiding from the world. They were just two young people, discovering themselves, and each other. Discovering their feelings for each other. In the back of his mind, Robbe knew that they weren’t just two ordinary people. That he was now lying in bed with the future king of Camelot. And that this future king was, unbeknownst to him, lying in bed with a wizard, the one thing in the world he hated more than anything. But Robbe convinced himself that that didn’t matter. That none of it mattered anyway, because sooner or later the prince would abandon him, and marry a nice girl. That what they had wasn’t built to last anyway. But at least for now, it was Robbe who was lying in the prince’s arms. It was him who was tasting the prince’s lips, and he cherished every second of it.

The next morning, Robbe woke up to a pair of beautiful green eyes staring at him. The boy to whom the green eyes belonged smiled at him.

‘Good morning sleepyhead.’ Sander said with a hoarse morning voice.

‘Did you even sleep?’ Robbe asked, remembering how Sander was still wide awake when he fell asleep the night before.

‘Not when I have the most beautiful boy in the universe laying in my arms.’ Robbe rolled his eyes at Sander’s cheesy one-liner, and he was met by the other boy’s soft lips. It was a short and tender kiss, but it immediately reminded Robbe of how lucky he was to have this boy in his life. To be able to see every side of him. And then, he remembered that he had a job, and he probably had a bunch of missed calls. He tried to roll out of Sander’s grip and reach for his phone, but the other boy only held onto him tighter.

‘I need to check my phone.’ Robbe whined.

‘No, you don’t.’ Sander stated, kissing Robbe on the forehead. ‘You are going to stay right here.’

‘But I really need to-‘

‘Well, I’m not letting you.’ Sander cut Robbe off. ‘Besides, you’re _my_ assistant, I’m the one who tells you what to do. And right now I’m telling you to stay in bed at me.’ Robbe looked at him with an annoyed face.

‘Yes, but your dad can still fire me.’ He patted Sander’s chest. ‘And since neither of us want that, I should probably do my job.’ He forcefully sat up, forcing Sander to let go.

‘No.’ The older boy whined, grabbing onto Robbe’s arm.

‘I’m only going over to the nightstand to grab my phone.’ Robbe told him.

‘But that’s so far away.’ Sander pouted.

‘You’re so dramatic.’ Robbe grabbed a pillow and playfully hit Sander with it. Who looked at him pseudo-angrily, but very quickly started giggling when Robbe hit him multiple times. While the other boy was distracted, Robbe managed to get away from him and grab his phone on the nightstand. He was right, he had a lot of messages and missed calls.

‘What do they want from you today?’ Sander asked.

‘They’re mostly just asking how you’re doing.’ Robbe stated. Sander coughed dramatically.

‘Well as you can see-‘ He said in between his fake coughs. ‘I’m definitely still sick. I’ll have to stay in bed for another day.’ Robbe just stared at him in annoyance.

‘You can’t pretend to be sick for another day.’ He said.

‘What?’ Sander asked as he looked at him with his sad green eyes. ‘Why not?’

‘Because you have things to do today, and don’t you think that your dad will send a doctor to check up on you if you’re sick for another day?’ Sander sighed deeply.

‘But I just want to stay in bed with you.’ He whined. Robbe crawled onto the bed and gave him a quick peck.

‘We can do that tonight. Okay?’ Robbe said.

‘Okay.’ Sander reluctantly agreed. He sat up and put his hand on Robbe’s neck and brought their lips together. The kiss was more than just a peck this time. It started off very slow, but Robbe could quickly feel Sander’s tongue explore every bit of his mouth, and the kiss became deeper every second. Robbe moved his leg, so that he was straddling the older boy, and cupped his face. He felt Sander’s hand move up and grab onto his hair. The sensation made his entire body tingle. He had never experienced anything like the feeling he got when Sander touched him. It was like his body was in a sleepwalk state his entire life, and it only woke up when he felt the touch of the other boy. It was electrifying.

‘Wait.’ Robbe reluctantly broke their kiss apart, knowing that the two of them had obligations that day, and that they would stay in bed all day if it continued any longer. ‘We really need to get out of bed.’

‘Fine.’ Sander groaned as he put his hand on Robbe’s hips and pushed him off him onto the bed. Robbe slid off the bed.

‘You need to get dressed and go to breakfast.’ He said as he started heading to the door.

‘Where are you going?’ Sander asked as he got out of bed, too.

‘Home.’ Robbe giggled. ‘I need to change into fresh clothes.’

‘Can’t you just wear something of mine?’

‘You don’t think someone would notice?’

‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Sander sighed. ‘Alright, go then.’ He waved Robbe out of the room.

‘Get dressed and go to breakfast.’ Robbe told him as he opened the door. ‘I’ll be right there.’

‘You better be.’ Sander teased. Robbe winked at him and left the room.

Robbe breathed deeply and leaned against the apartment door, finally able to process what happened the past two days. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back and reminisced on the fairytale that he had been living. The kind which only seemed to exist in stories. The kind that could never be real. And while what happened with Sander might seem like a fairytale, nothing in Robbe’s life had ever felt more real.

‘You’re back.’ Milan’s voice startled him. He opened his eyes and saw his roommate standing in the bedroom door opening.

‘Milan.’ If Robbe was honest with himself, he had completely forgotten Milan even existed these past few days.

‘Where have you been?’ Milan demanded, walking towards him.

‘I was just with Sander. He was sick and I needed to take care of him.’

‘You didn’t come home for two nights, I was worried he’d fired you or worse.’

‘No, no. I just-‘ Robbe quickly thought of an excuse. ‘I had to sleep in a guest room, in case Sander needed something during the night.’

‘Alright, well next time sent me a message please. So that I don’t have to worry about you being fired or arrest or anything like that.’

‘I will.’ Robbe said with a reassuring smile.

‘Anyway I’m going back to bed, and you need to take a shower.’ He leaned in to sniff Robbe.

‘I don’t have time for a shower.’ Robbe whined as Milan started to head back to the bedroom.

‘You could always…’ Milan pointed upstairs and winked at Robbe.

‘It’s not exactly an emergency or anything.’

‘Trust me, Robbe. Based on what you smell like, it’s definitely an emergency.’ The two of them laughed and Milan returned to bed, leaving Robbe alone with his thoughts again.

The day was filled with a lot of subtle touching and stolen glances. It took a long time before Robbe and Sander had time alone again. At breakfast Sander was given a whole lecture about how he should have told someone that he wasn’t feeling well and that they would have a doctor take a look at him, which Sander insisted really wasn’t necessary. They had to attend a press conference at some fancy hotel in which the king announced his plans to improve Camelot’s infrastructure. Which Robbe was very grateful for since most of the roads in the country had been built in the 19th century. Sander didn’t really have anything to do the whole conference, he just had to stand next to his dad and look pretty. Which, Robbe had to admit, he was very good at. It didn’t take very long before Robbe zoned out and was completely consumed by his thoughts. He thought about his mom, and what she would be doing. He left her completely alone. Of course, it was her who suggested that Robbe should leave in the first place, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty. His entire life, it had just been the two of them. His dad bailed on them as soon as Robbe started developing magical abilities, he had promised not to tell anyone about it, but he just didn’t want the hassle of having a wizard son. Not that Robbe necessarily blamed him. The secrecy had strained so many of both his own and his mother’s relationships. Neither of them ever invited anyone over, and Robbe was only allowed to spend a limited amount of time with friends, to minimize the chance of a slip-up. On top of that, his mother suffered from depression, and she regularly slipped into episodes. The only consistent friend Robbe had was Noor, who lived next door. Her room was adjacent to Robbe’s, so they could talk to each other through their windows. Noor was also the only person in the world who knew Robbe was gay. At least, until Sander. Robbe never got drunk, since it caused his powers to go haywire, but Noor certainly did. One night the two of them were laying in the grass in Robbe’s backyard, looking at the stars, when Noor suddenly tried to kiss him. Robbe had completely freaked out, storming inside without saying a word. When Noor came over the next day to apologize, Robbe came out to her. Pretty soon after that, Noor moved to Belgium to go to university, and Robbe felt completely alone again. But then he met Sander.

‘Good afternoon.’ Robbe was startled by an unfamiliar voice. He looked at the source of the voice. It belonged to a man who had suddenly appeared on his right. The man was probably in his mid-thirties, and seemed pretty underdressed for the event.

‘Hello.’ Robbe simply replied. He soon discovered that he had zoned out for so long that the press conference had ended, and Sander was nowhere to be found.

‘You look a little young to be a journalist.’ The man stated.

‘I’m not.’ Robbe replied. ‘I’m Prince Sander’s assistant.’

‘Wow.’ The man said. ‘The infamous Prince Sander. Must be a blast.’ There was a very sarcastic undertone in his voice.

‘It is, actually.’ Robbe replied truthfully. The man laughed, but abruptly stopped when he saw that Robbe didn’t.

‘Wait you’re serious?’

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘I mean, I’ve read the tabloids.’

‘Don’t believe everything you read.’ Robbe noticed that he was starting to get a little defensive. ‘Who are you anyway? A reporter?’

‘Johan Evans. Not a reporter, I work for the hotel.’

‘Well, Johan, it was nice to meet you but I should really look for Prince Sander.’

‘Alright. It was nice to meet you, Robbe.’ Johan said as Robbe started walking away. It was only after a few seconds that he realized he never told Johan his name. He looked back at where the man was standing, but he wasn’t there anymore. He looked around the room, but Johan had completely vanished.

‘Looking for someone?’ Sander had appeared beside him.

‘I was just-‘ Robbe kept scanning the room, but he eventually gave up. ‘Never mind. Where have you been?’ He pivoted to face the blond prince.

‘I’m sorry, I had to talk to some really boring people.’ He whined. ‘But I’m free now.’

‘Free to do what?’

‘Follow me.’ Sander headed off, and Robbe sighed.

‘Where are we going this time?’

‘Just come.’ Sander insisted. Of course, Robbe bravely followed. If he was honest with himself, he would probably follow the prince anywhere. Sander only slowed down when they reached an empty corridor, and he started walking alongside Robbe instead of in front of him.

‘I know this hotel very well, we’ve been here many times.’ He explained.

‘You know, for someone who lives in the spotlight the way you do, you are an awfully mysterious person.’ Robbe stated, and Sander glanced over at him and raised his eyebrows.

‘You’re probably the person who knows the most about me in the entire world.’

‘Seriously?’ Sander nodded affirmatively. ‘What about your sister?’ Robbe added.

‘I wish I could say I have a good bond with her.’ The two of them reached an elevator and Sander pressed the button. ‘But if I’m honest, I don’t spend as much time with her as I’d like to.’ The elevator arrived, and the two of them stepped inside. Sander pressed the button for the top floor, and the doors slowly closed.

‘I’m kind of jealous of her.’ He stated.

‘What do you mean?’

‘She gets all the glamour of being a royal without the pressure of being a future monarch.’

‘Yes but she also doesn’t get to have the best assistant in the world.’ Robbe said teasingly. Sander dramatically rolled his eyes. The elevator arrived at the top floor. Sander stepped out first and Robbe followed closely behind him.

‘I discovered’ Sander started as he guided Robbe along the hotel corridor. ‘that every public space in this hotel is filled with cameras.’ They reached a door at the end of the hallway, which Sander opened and walked through, signaling for Robbe to join him. The door opened up to a set of stairs, which they climbed.

‘But there is one place’ Sander continued. ‘where you can have complete privacy.’ Robbe followed the older boy through a door at the top of the stairs, and they were standing on the roof of the hotel. Sander spread out his arms and looked at Robbe with pride, and Robbe couldn’t help but smile.

‘This is pretty amazing.’ Robbe admitted. The hotel was pretty tall compared to the other buildings around the, which meant the view extended for miles. The orange glow of the setting sun illuminated the city in a warm and comforting light. Robbe followed Sander to the edge of the roof and they leaned against the wall.

‘Do you come here often?’ Robbe asked as he admired the view.

‘We come here pretty regularly.’ Sander explained. ‘And when we do I always tend to crave some alone time. So I guess you could say I come here pretty often.’

‘It really is beautiful’ Robbe stated.

‘It is.’ Sander said with admiration. Robbe looked to the side and saw that Sander was staring at him, not the view.

‘You’re so cheesy.’ Robbe said as he jokingly shoved the other boy’s shoulder.

‘I’ve seen this view hundreds of times.’ Sander gestured towards the city. ‘This view, however, is a new one.’ He reached out and put his hand on Robbe’s cheek.

‘Are you sure that nobody will see us here?’ Robbe said, paranoidly looking around. Sander didn’t reply, he just smiled and moved closer to Robbe. Their lips touched, and Robbe felt a sense of relief come over his body. Even though he had been in Sander’s arms that morning, he had craved the blond boy’s touch all day. He felt an arm around his waist pull him closer. He wrapped his arm around Sander’s neck, deepening the kiss with every passing second. After what felt like a blissful eternity, Sander separated their lips and pressed his forehead against Robbe’s.

‘Do you think I’d do that if I wasn’t sure?’ He asked with a smug smile. Robbe giggled in response.

‘God, I’ve missed you.’ Sander stated, his beautiful green eyes staring into Robbe’s soul. ‘I hate being so close to you all day, but never being allowed to kiss you.’

‘I’ve missed you to.’ Robbe told him. ‘These past few hours felt like an eternity. If every day is going to be like this I don’t know how I’ll survive.’

‘At least we still have enough free time in the evenings and at night.’

‘That reminds me.’ Robbe tilted his head back, disconnecting their foreheads so that he could properly look Sander in the eyes. ‘I can’t stay over tonight.’

‘What?’ Sander looks at him with sad eyes.

‘Milan is already suspicious. If I stay over tonight he’ll definitely thin something’s up.’ Robbe explained. Sander pouted at him.

‘I’m sorry.’ Robbe said. ‘But I can still stay until pretty late, and I’ll be back early in the morning. I promise.’

‘Fine.’

Sander finally let Robbe leave his embrace at 11pm. After many goodbye kisses, the younger boy finally started to walk back to his apartment. When he entered the building, he was adamant to just go upstairs and go to bed, but that plan was quickly dropped when he heard Jens calling him from the common room. The employees were having another forbidden late-night party. And, while Robbe really wanted to go to bed, he knew that Jens would never let him.

‘How was your day?’ Jens asked. Robbe shrugged.

‘Boring I guess.’ He stated.

‘That’s not really surprising. I’m pretty sure that a piece of cardboard has more personality than Prince Sander.’ Jens joked.

‘That’s not true.’ The words came out very defensively, and Robbe immediately regretted it when Jens looked at him confused.

‘Are you telling me you actually like that guy?’

‘He’s not as bad as you guys make him out to be, and he does actually have a decent personality.’ Decent was an understatement. Sander was probably the most interesting person Robbe had ever met.

‘Hey, Robbe.’ Moyo approached the two of them, Aaron not far behind him.

‘Hey, man.’ Robbe greeted the two boys with a high-five.

‘We missed you the past two days.’ Aaron stated. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Sander was sick.’ Robbe explained. ‘So I had to take care of him.’  
‘Did you just call him Sander?’ Moyo asked.

‘Yeah. That’s his name, right?’ Robbe was confused why that seemed like such a big deal to them. Zoë called Eliza by her name, too.

‘It is.’ Jens started. ‘But nobody ever refers to him as just Sander, nobody is ever allowed to.’

‘Well, Sander asked me to stop referring to him as sir and prince, so I did.’ He saw the three other boys raise their eyebrows.

‘I’m impressed, Robbe.’ Moyo stated. ‘Prince Sander must really like you.’ Robbe shrugged.

‘I guess so.’ He admitted. Robbe smiled to himself. If only these boys knew how much Sander really liked Robbe. If only they knew that a mere fifteen minutes ago, the two were making out in Sander’s bed. The party continued until deep into the night. Robbe kept the alcohol to a minimum as much as he could. The amount of times he was interrogated about the previous two nights gave him anxiety. How was he ever going to be able to stay the night at Sander’s again, if everyone was constantly asking him so many questions? It’s not that Robbe hadn’t thought about how complicated being with Sander would become, but now that he was actually being confronted by it he realized how fucked he really was.

‘Rise and shine!’ Robbe yelled out as he entered Sander’s room. The blond boy groaned. He opened his eyes and sat up. Robbe smiled at the sight of Sander’s messy morning hair, and Sander smiled back at him.

‘Join me.’ He pleaded as he invitingly extended his arms. Every bone in Robbe’s body wanted to give in and lay in Sander’s arms. He had slept considerably worse that night than the two nights before. It scared him how much he craved Sander’s touch. How, in such a short time, Sander had such a big influence on him. But he knew that he had to be responsible if he wanted to keep his job, so he refused and told Sander:

‘You need to get up. You have things to do today.’

‘Can’t those things wait?’ Sander whined.

‘No, you have a busy schedule today.’

‘But can’t we just cuddle for five minutes?’ Sander tried.

‘You and I both know that five minutes will turn into an hour.’ Sander tilted his head and nodded in agreement.

‘Fine.’ He slid out of bed. Robbe couldn’t help but stare as he walked over to his wardrobe in only his underwear. He bit his lip at the sight of the blond boy’s abs.

‘What should I wear?’ Sander asked as he opened the wardrobe doors.

‘Maybe some golfing attire.’

‘I’m going golfing?’ Sander complained.

‘Yup, right after breakfast.’

‘I hate golfing.’

‘At least you get to actually play golf.’

‘And you can just stand around and looking hot. Which will definitely make it all a little more bearable.’ Sander grabbed clothes out of the wardrobe. He walked over to Robbe and gave him a short kiss.

‘So what else do I have to do today?’ Sander asked as he started putting on his slacks. Robbe unlocked his tablet and looked through the schedule.

‘This afternoon you have a meeting with your dad and some foreign guy whose name I can’t pronounce.’ Sander sighed as he put on his shirt. Robbe giggled at the sight of the blond boy in golf attire. After getting to know him the past few days, and being used to his all-black aesthetic, it really didn’t look right.

‘What are you laughing at?’ Sander said mock-angrily.

‘Nothing.’ Robbe giggled. ‘You just look ridiculous in that.’ Sander looked down at his clothes and back at Robbe.

‘What are you talking about?’ Sander asked. ‘This is my favorite outfit.’ He couldn’t even finish the sentence himself before bursting out in laughter.

‘So, the last thing on the agenda,’ Robbe started. ‘tonight you have a dinner with someone named Britt.’ Sander immediately stopped laughing.

‘Really?’ He asked. Robbe nodded.

‘Who’s Britt?’ He asked Sander.

‘Nobody important.’ Sander assured him. ‘I just know that dinner with her will take forever, since she never shuts up. And I’d much rather spend my evening with you.’

‘Well, on the bright side, you can come and cuddle me afterward.’ Sander approached Robbe, leaving only a few centimeters between them. Robbe could feel the warmth of the other boy’s body. He looked up into those green eyes, Sander’s lips hovering above his own.

‘I’m already looking forward to it.’

Golf was exactly as boring as the two of them had predicted it to be. The guy that joined them was the head of one of the elitist families of Camelot. Sander had told Robbe that his name was George Fitzgerald. Luckily for them, he was basically deaf, meaning Robbe and Sander could talk all they wanted without being overheard.

‘Honestly I’d like to go back in time and punch the person who invented golf in the face.’ Sander joked as they walked along the golf course. The two of them laughed.

‘You know, you should tell your dad you want to play other sports.’ Robbe suggested.

‘Like what?’ Sander asked. Robbe hummed as he thought of a suggestion.

‘American football.’

‘American football?’ Sander giggled.

‘Yes. You don’t think tackling each other to the ground is a good for networking?’ Robbe joked.

‘I’ll talk to him about it.’

‘Maybe then you can also talk to him about giving me a raise.’

‘A raise? And what have you done to deserve that?’

‘Put up with you.’ Sander rolled his eyes and playfully shoved Robbe, and they both giggled uncontrollably until a voice reminded them of where they were.

‘Your majesty!’ Mr. Fitzgerald called out.

‘Time to hit some more balls with a stick.’ Sander waltzed over to the old man, Robbe following him closely.

‘I’m telling you, I think I’m going to make my move tonight.’ Robbe was trying his best to listen to Aaron’s rambles about Amber, but he honestly couldn’t care less. Robbe had decided to keep the kitchen staff company while Sander was at dinner with Britt.

‘Honestly I think that would be best for all of us.’ Moyo said. ‘Since you constantly stalking her and drooling over her is just becoming creepy.’

‘I’m not stalking her.’ Aaron said defensively.

‘Yes you are.’ All three boys said in unison. The boys were called over by one of the chefs, leaving Robbe alone. His phone vibrated in his pocket, indicating that he got a text message. He opened his phone and laughed at the message that appeared on his screen.

_Sander: SOS. Please rescue me. Worst dinner ever._

_Robbe: Is it really that bad?_

_Sander: Yes. The grains of rice on my plate have more personality than her._

_Robbe: Well maybe it would help if you weren’t on your phone and actually talked to her._

_Sander: She’s in the bathroom right now. Please, Robbe. I need you to save me._

_Robbe: Just a few more hours. You can do this._

_Sander: I should have just brought you along with me, then we could have endured this torture together._

‘What are you smiling at?’ Milan’s voice startled Robbe.

‘Nothing.’ He quickly turned off his phone screen.

‘Clearly.’ Milan said sarcastically.

‘It’s none of your business, okay?’

‘Are you texting a nice girl?’ Milan raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

‘No.’ Robbe snapped at him defensively.

‘A nice boy?’ Milan asked. Robbe swallowed, he could feel his face turning read.

‘No.’ He told Milan.

‘You hesitated that time.’ Milan claimed. ‘You’re totally talking to a boy.’

‘Milan-‘ Robbe whined.

‘Oh my god, who is he?’

‘Nobody, okay. Just leave me alone.’ Robbe sighed, he really didn’t need Milan prying in his life.

‘You can be all secretive about it but you won’t be able to hide it from me forever.’ Robbe prayed to god that wasn’t true. Anyone finding out about him and Sander could be a huge risk.

‘If you keep annoying me like this I won’t help you wash the dishes later.’ Milan glared at him and sighed.

‘Fine. But don’t think you’ve gotten rid of me forever.’ Milan stated. Robbe just rolled his eyes and sighed deeply.

Robbe decided to go up to Sander’s room around 9, much to all of his friends’ dismay. Robbe hadn’t had a proper moment alone with Sander since the morning, and he really craved the other boy’s touch. Besides, Robbe knew that Sander would text him again during the night, and he really didn’t want Milan around him when that happened. He planted himself on Sander’s bed, and just as he expected, he got a notification.

_Sander: On a scale of 1 to 10 this dinner is a solid 2,5._

_Robbe: At least it’s not a 1._

_Sander: The food is actually really good, which slightly makes up for the boring company._

_Robbe: What does this scale look like? I can’t know how bad it is unless I have something to compare it to._

_Sander: Hmm…_

_Sander: 1 is that time we were served bad shrimp and my entire family got food poisoning._

_Robbe: Hahaha_

_Sander: 10 is that time I almost choked and you saved my life._

_Robbe: That’s a 10 for you? You almost died!_

_Sander: But I didn’t, thanks to you. Meeting you was definitely the best thing that’s ever happened to me._

_Robbe: You’re so cheesy._

_Sander: The word you’re looking for is romantic._

_Sander: I should probably go back or she’s going to think I drowned in the toilet._

_Robbe: Alright. Talk later!_

Robbe shook his head at how ridiculous Sander was being, and he couldn’t help but smile. That prince was really something else. It scared Robbe how much he’d grown to care about him. Just a short while ago Robbe couldn’t even stand the sight of him, but the more he got to know him, the more he grew to like him. He hated to admit it, but Robbe was falling in love with him. Quickly and deeply. Everything inside him knew that he shouldn’t. That he was setting himself up for heartbreak. But being with Sander felt so right. Nothing in his life had ever felt as good as lying in Sander’s arms, and kissing his soft lips.

Loneliness set in after about an hour of silence. Robbe started wandering around Sander’s room. He inspected the other boy’s impressive collection of books, records and DVDs. Robbe noticed how diverse Sander’s taste was. He had a lot of Bowie records, of course, but Robbe also spotted ABBA and Ed Sheeran. And the DVD collection had everything from Mary Poppins to IT. Robbe giggled at the fact that Sander was the only person he knew who would still have such a large collection of DVDs in this day and age. He eventually wandered off and found himself in Sander’s studio. The prince’s talent still astonished him. In another life he was definitely a renowned artist. Robbe felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the text he had received from Sander.

_Sander: Sorry that it’s taking so long. I’ll be home as soon as possible._

_Robbe: It’s alright. I’ll just be here waiting for you._

_Sander: Where is here exactly?_

Robbe took a photo of the studio and sent it.

_Sander: Are you in my studio?_

_Robbe: I’m sorry, do you not want me to be?_

_Sander: No, no. You are always welcome there. I guess I’m just surprised that you’d look at my art in your spare time._

_Robbe: Sander, I’ve already told you so many times, your art is amazing and I will never get tired of looking at it._

_Sander: What did I ever do to deserve you?_

_Robbe: I wonder that every day, too._

Robbe smiled at his own clever comment. He waited for Sander to respond, but he didn’t. Robbe stayed staring at his screen for a few minutes until he finally accepted that the other boy was probably talking to that Britt lady again, and therefore couldn’t respond anymore. He walked around the studio, eventually reaching the desk in the corner of the room on which he found Sander’s beautiful drawings of him last time. He noticed several new drawings, most of them were just of Robbe, but one of them was of the two of them kissing in the pool. He smiled at the memory of that amazing kiss, it was like nothing he had ever felt before. The resurfacing of that memory increased Robbe’s craving to kiss Sander again. Time was passing by way too slowly, and Sander was out there somewhere with some lady named Britt. Who was she anyway? Was she old like George and Sander’s other golf buddies, or was she a young beautiful girl? Maybe she was the princess of some foreign country, here to sweep Sander off his feet. Maybe it was a date. So what if it was? It’s not like Robbe was going to marry Sander and live happily ever after as the two kings of Camelot. He was in no position to be jealous. He should stop overthinking. It’s probably not a date anyway. No, definitely not. This dinner with this Britt lady was just pure royal business, nothing else. He started to picture Britt in his head. He imagined an old lady with gray hair. She wasn’t even close to Sander’s age, so it couldn’t be a date. It wasn’t a date. But what if it was?

Robbe spent another hour or so pacing around the studio and bedroom. He tried his best to distract himself. He remembered that soon Sander would come home. He would come home to Robbe. He would kiss Robbe. He would cuddle Robbe, and not some random girl. The sound of a notification made him sit upright. He hastily opened the text.

_Sander: I’m sorry, I won’t be home for a while. You don’t have to wait for me, just go to bed._

Robbe’s heart sank. Why would Sander text this? Wasn’t he the one who was constantly whining about alone time? Why did he suddenly want Robbe to go to bed and stop waiting for him?

_Robbe: I can wait for you, it’s no problem._

He prayed that the prince would reply with a message telling him how sweet he was. How he didn’t deserve him. _Anything_ to indicate that he still wanted to be with Robbe today.

_Sander: Don’t bother. I don’t want you to be tired in the morning._

There was a familiar coldness to Sander’s texts. It was the same way Sander would talk to him before the kiss. No flirty undertones. No jokes. Just an emotionless text. Maybe Robbe had been right. Maybe this _was_ a date, and maybe Sander wanted to take this date up to his room. The idea made him feel physically ill.

_Robbe: I really don’t mind waiting for you. But if you want me to, I can go to bed._

_Sander: Just go to bed, Robbe._

He sighed deeply. He wanted to persist so badly. He wanted to see Sander. He _needed_ to see him. Without the blond boy’s touch, Robbe felt empty. He decided to give the prince one more chance to redeem himself before he really went to bed.

_Robbe: Alright. See you tomorrow!_

He waited for a text, _any_ text. But nothing came. No ‘I can’t wait’. No ‘I promise I’ll make up for it’. Just ‘read’ checkmark staring back at Robbe, and the increasing anxiety filling up his entire body.

When he woke up the next morning, he immediately checked for texts from Sander. He just wanted any indication that the prince cared for him, that Robbe was just being paranoid and he still wanted to be with Robbe as much as Robbe wanted to be with him. But there was nothing. He dragged himself out of bed, put on some clothes and headed over to the palace. His mind was racing the entire time. He kept trying to convince himself that he was being paranoid, that as soon as he entered Sander’s room he’d be smothered with kisses and cuddles. However, thoughts kept creeping in about this Britt. What if he’d find the two of them in bed together? But Sander would tell Robbe if it had been a date, right? Robbe would have no reason to be upset with him, they both knew that what they had would never be anything real. Never be anything real. Those words kept echoing in Robbe’s brain. It was a matter of fact, but he hated it so much. He hated himself for getting into situation where the most real thing he had ever felt in his live, was unattainable. He set himself up to get his heart broken by the one person who had been able to make him feel whole.

He entered Sander’s wing of the palace. He headed through the hallway and stood at the bedroom door. He took a deep breath, he tried to convince himself that there was nothing to worry about, that it was all in his head. He opened the door. The first thing he noticed was that Sander was alone, which made him feel incredibly relieved.

‘Good morning sleepyhead.’ He exclaimed. The blond boy opened his eyes and looked at Robbe.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Waking you up, of course. You have things to do today.’ Robbe felt his chest tighten. He didn’t exactly get the overjoyed greeting he was expecting. But it was early in the morning, and therefore he gave Sander the benefit of the doubt.

‘I don’t want you in my room.’ Sander sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

‘I promise I won’t look when you change your underwear.’ Robbe giggled, assuming that the prince was joking. However, he stood up and approached Robbe with a blank expression on his face. The kind of blank expression Robbe saw regularly when he first started working for Sander, but which had gradually changed to a beautiful smile.

‘I’m serious.’ Sander snapped. ‘Get out.’

‘Sander, is everything okay?’ Robbe tried his best to stay calm. Sander wouldn’t just act like this out of nowhere, there had to be an explanation.

‘It was until you barged into my room unauthorized.’ Sander started to raise his voice a little. Robbe knew that he had to calm him down, and let him know that he was there for him.

‘Sander, if there’s something wrong you can talk to me. You know that, right?’ He raised his arm and calmly put his hand on the other boy’s cheek, hoping that the feeling of his touch would calm Sander down. For a brief second, Robbe felt Sander relax a little bit, only for him to tense up even more immediately after. He aggressively slapped Robbe’s arm away.

‘Don’t touch me.’ He snarled.

‘What’s going on with you? Is it something I did?’ Robbe retraced everything he did in his mind, trying to find what could have caused Sander to start hating him. Maybe it wasn’t okay that he went into his studio while he wasn’t there. Maybe he crossed some kind of boundary that he shouldn’t have.

‘Look, I don’t know what you think is going on here. But I think you are gravely misinterpreting how important you are to me.’ Robbe tried to look into Sander’s eyes, hoping that he could recognize the amazing person he had gotten to know these past few days. Hoping that it wasn’t all some kind of delusion. Hoping that it wasn’t all lost.

‘But what about this weekend?’

‘What happened between us these past few days meant nothing to me.’ It was getting harder and harder for Robbe to breathe. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be losing Sander already. He had to get through to him. He _had_ to.

‘But…’ He stammered. ‘What changed?’

‘Nothing changed, Robbe. You really thought that meant anything to me? It was a mistake.’ That phrase hit Robbe like a brick. A mistake. Was that really what it was to him, just a mistake? Was none of real? Was Sander’s vulnerability just an act? Was anything he told Robbe even true, or was it just a way to manipulate him?

‘Sander-‘ Robbe tried.

‘Don’t.’ The other boy cut him off. ‘You’re fired.’

‘What? No, please I-‘ Robbe could feel tears welling in his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry. He wasn’t that weak. This stupid job didn’t matter that much to him anyway. He survived before it, he would survive after it. But Robbe knew that it wasn’t the job that he was scared of losing, but it was Sander. He survived before Sander, but he didn’t know if he would survive after him. He had come into Robbe’s life and completely turned it around. Sander was like a lightning bolt that had struck Robbe. It came out of nowhere, and happened so quickly, that he didn’t have any time to properly process what was happening. He didn’t have time to properly process that he was falling in love with Sander.

‘Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.’ Sander said coldly.

‘Sander I don’t understand-‘

‘There’s nothing to understand. I’m firing you. You need to be gone by tomorrow, understood?’ Robbe refused to believe it. He refused to believe that this was what Sander really wanted.

‘Fine.’ He said. ‘But I need you to look me in the eyes first.’

‘What?’ Sander scoffed.

‘Yes. Look me in the eyes, and tell me that you want me to leave. If you do that, I’ll go.’ Sander rolled his eyes, but finally brought them to meet Robbe’s. They weren’t as beautiful and full of life as they usually were. It was like he was staring into an empty shell. Like the Sander Robbe knew and had grown to love had suddenly vanished. Sander closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them up again and stared directly at Robbe.

‘Leave.’ He said swiftly and coldly, his eyes immediately shifting away from Robbe’s again. Robbe couldn’t bring himself to say anything back. He couldn’t breathe, his entire body was shaking. He stumbled out of the room. He walked and walked. Away from Sander. Away from everything that they had. Away from warmth. Away from safety. Away from a feeling, that he knew he would never experience again. He walked home. Every step was heavier than the previous. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour. He couldn’t breathe. All he could do was think. Think about Sander. Did he do this with other assistants? Is this why they all got fired so quickly? Maybe he wasn’t actually the sweet young man that he had seen with the orphans. Maybe he wasn’t the misunderstood prince who just wanted to be an artist. Maybe he was just as everyone had always told Robbe he was. Cold. Mean. Heartless. But what if Robbe really had been special, but that dinner last night really was a date, and Sander realized that this Britt girl was so much better than anything Robbe could ever offer him. He realized that he shouldn’t be wasting his time with a nobody like Robbe. He climbed up the steps of the employees’ quarters. Every stair made him feel more and more sick. When he reached the apartment he was shaking so much that he could barely get the key in the hole. After a while he finally managed to get inside. He slammed the door behind him.

‘What are you doing here?’ Milan’s voice sounded. Robbe didn’t reply. He just walked over to the bookcase, opened the door and headed up the stairs. He could hear Milan call for him, but he ignored him. He leaned against one of the bookcases. He tried his best to stay upright, but he quickly sank to the ground. He finally allowed himself to cry. Tears fell from his eyes like rivers. His heartbeat just kept going faster and faster, he felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He wanted to scream. He needed to scream. He took a deep breath, and let out all his sadness and anger in a loud scream. He felt the control over his magic slip away, and along with the scream hundreds of books flew around the room. When he finished screaming his heartbeat finally started to slow down, and he could bring himself to open his eyes. He looked around at the mess he had caused, and breathed deeply, angrily slamming his head against the bookcase behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this chapter took a while to write. I should be able to finish the next one quicker.  
> Thank you so much for all the love and support, it truly means a lot!  
> Don't hesitate to leave comments or kudos, it really makes my day!


	5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sander shattered Robbe's heart into a million pieces. He tells himself that he'll never talk to the prince again. But maybe everyone deserves a second chance sometimes.

Robbe got on the first train home. He didn’t talk to anyone, he just grabbed his stuff and left. Milan tried to get him to talk, but to no avail. What would Robbe even tell him? How would he explain why he was so upset? Sander might have hurt him, but he wasn’t going to reveal the nature of their relationship, Robbe still cared too much about him.

Luckily, the train was very empty, so Robbe had an entire four-person booth to himself. He put his earphones in his ears and scrolled through the playlists on his phone. His finger hovered above the Bowie playlist for a second, before he decided on a different one. Bowie would remind him too much of Sander, and he really didn’t want that right now. He closed his eyes and leaned against the window, hoping to forget everything that happened the past few days.

He was startled by someone’s voice close to his ear. He turned towards the source of the voice and was met by a familiar face. It was the man he had met at the press conference, Johan.

‘Sorry, what?’ He said as he removed one of his earphones from his ear.

‘May I?’ Johan asked, gesturing towards the seat opposite Robbe.

‘Sure, go ahead.’ Robbe told him. Johan smiled and took a seat. The two of them sat in silence for a while, until Johan asked:

‘Where are you going?’

‘Home.’

‘Where’s that?’

‘Darlton Valley.’ Robbe was honestly not in the mood for a conversation, so he kept his answers as short as possible, hoping that Johan would get the hint and leave him alone.

‘Don’t you have to work today?’

‘Not anymore.’ If there was one thing Robbe didn’t want to talk about, it was work. He really didn’t want to think about everything that happened. He really didn’t want to think about Sander, and how much of an idiot he had been. He just wanted to leave this part of his life behind and never look back.

‘Oh, I’m sorry. Did you quit or-‘ Robbe shook his head.

‘Fired.’ He said truthfully. ‘Turns out the tabloids are right, the prince really is an entitled asshole.’

‘Really? You seemed so certain that he wasn’t the other day.’

‘I guess I was wrong.’ Robbe admitted.

‘Or maybe there’s more to him than meets the eye.’ Robbe looked at Johan confused.

‘What do you mean?’

‘People generally aren’t one dimensional. Maybe you don’t know the whole story.’

‘I know enough.’ Robbe said confidently. But as those words left his lips, he wondered if that was really the case. Maybe he shouldn’t have left. Maybe he should’ve stayed and forced Sander to talk. No. Sander had been rude and cold. He had broken Robbe’s heart. He didn’t have the right to be listened to.

As the train pulled into a station Johan got up.

‘This is my stop.’ He said. ‘Have a good day, Robbe.’

‘Bye.’ Robbe said as Johan walked off. Then, he remembered that he wanted to ask how Johan knew his name, so he looked in the direction the man was heading, but he was nowhere to be seen. Robbe looked out the window to see if he could spot him, but it was as if Johan had disappeared off the face of the earth. If it had been any other day, he probably would’ve cared more. But he decided to just forget about it and continue listening to music.

The trip home took almost two hours. As he walked home from the bus stop, Robbe wondered if his mother would be home. Part of him hoped she wasn’t, because she’d ask a bunch of questions he wasn’t in the mood to answer. He unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

‘Robbe?’ A voice called from the living room. He sighed as his mother’s head peaked around the corner.

‘Hi mom.’ He said with slight annoyance in his voice.

‘What are you doing here?’ His mom asked, visibly concerned.

‘I don’t really want to talk about it.’ He mumbled as he took of his coat and shoes.

‘Robbe are you in danger?’ His mom asked.

‘Danger? What? No!’

‘Then why are you back?’

‘I told you I don’t want to talk about it.’ Robbe snapped at her. He immediately felt guilty and apologized.

‘Just put your bag in your room and I’ll make you some dinner, okay?’ She put her hand on Robbe’s face and smiled as she caressed his cheek. Robbe smiled and nodded and she walked away towards the kitchen.

Robbe enjoyed being back home with his mom, he had missed being around her. The food she made reminded him of his childhood, and for a little while he managed to forget the past few days. His mother quickly realized that there was no point in trying to get him to talk about what happened, and instead started telling Robbe about anything and everything. He barely even paid attention to what she said, but hearing her voice was incredibly soothing, and made him feel a lot better. Robbe spent the rest of the afternoon alone in his room, it had been a while since he’d properly had the opportunity to be alone. He thought that being alone would make him feel better, when he was younger he used to love spending time alone. But he felt so lonely, in a way he’d never experienced before. He needed the comfort of another body against his. He needed Sander, and he hated himself for it. He hated how quickly was completely unable to live without the prince. He hurt Robbe. He made him feel worthless. He made Robbe feel like he was special, only to fire him like he was just another one of his many unimportant employees.

Robbe didn’t leave his room for the next two days. At night, he barely slept. He was tossed and turned into the deep hours of the night. His mind just kept replaying his encounter with Sander. His cold stare. His empty words. How the Sander Robbe cared so much about, just seemed to have vanished. Maybe that version of Sander never really existed in the first place, maybe it was all just an act.

His mom would come into his room every once in a while to give him food, and to try to get him to talk, but he never wanted to, and she never pried. It wasn’t until his mother called him to come downstairs one afternoon that he finally got out of bed.

‘What is it?’ He yelled back at her.

‘There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.’

‘Who?’

‘I think it’s best if you just come downstairs.’ Robbe sighed and got out of bed. He wondered who would possibly come to visit him. Was it Milan? Or maybe Jens? He went down a list of people in his head, but the last person he had expected was the one standing at his front door. He immediately recognized the bleached blond hair. Sander was at his house, talking to his mom. Sander, the guy he had been trying so hard to forget the past few days, just walked right back into his life. Robbe wished he could say that what he hated the most about all of this was the fact that Sander showed up at his doorstep unannounced, but truthfully he hated himself more for immediately wanting to be near him again. Immediately wanting to kiss his soft lips again. But he made sure to control himself. He tried to keep his expression as blank as possible as he walked up to the prince, while his mother smiled at him and walked past him.

‘I’ll be in the living room.’ She said. Robbe made sure that there was enough space between himself and Sander. The other boy’s face wasn’t emotionless like it was the last time the two saw each other, instead it was filled with sadness and despair. But Robbe wasn’t about to be swayed by Sander’s puppy dog eyes. Sander hurt him, in a way he had never been hurt before, and Robbe was never going to forget that.

‘Robbe.’ Sander said as smile appeared on his face. ‘Can we talk?’ Robbe stared at him, not saying a word. Sander didn’t deserve to be talked to, he didn’t even deserve to be looked at.

‘Please?’ Sander pleaded as he noticed that Robbe wasn’t planning on answering him. Robbe’s mind was racing. He had told himself that he would never be fooled again. That he would never be wrapped up in Sander’s deceit again. At this moment, he had a choice to make. And without thinking about it too much, he slammed the door in the prince’s face. As the door fell closed, noticed that he hadn’t breathed for a while, and took a deep breath. He leaned against door, hearing how the footsteps on the other side of it slowly faded away. He brought his hands up to his face, and slowly ran his fingers through his hair. This stupid prince had made his life so incredibly complicated. He managed to properly stand on his feet again, and walked over to the living room, where he was greeted by his mom, standing in the middle of it with her hands on her hips looking pissed.

‘What?’ Robbe asked.

‘Did you just close the door on that boy?’ His mother said angrily.

‘That boy?’ Robbe snorted. ‘He is our future king, mom.’

‘Does that make him any less of a boy?’ His mother asked.

‘No, I guess not.’ Robbe admitted.

‘Look, sweetie, you won’t talk to me, so I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but don’t you think he at least deserves a chance?’

‘He hurt me, mom.’ His mother approached him.

‘And you don’t deserve that. But I saw the look on that young man’s face, and I think he hurt himself just as much as he hurt you.’

‘I thought I was special.’ Robbe felt himself tear up. ‘But he told me that all of it, everything we had, was just a mistake.’

‘Let me show you something.’ His mother calmly said as she handed him a folded piece of paper that was in her back pocket. ‘I found it in one of your pockets when I was doing the laundry.’ Robbe unfolded the paper. It was one of Sander’s beautiful drawings. It was of Robbe stargazing on the bench in the palace garden. He smiled as he read the note scribbled in the bottom right corner. _Robin, there is no star in the sky that could outshine you._ Sander was always the king of cheesy one-liners.

‘Now tell me’ His mother said. ‘Would he make something like this for a mistake?’ Robbe folded the drawing and gripped onto it, as if he was gripping onto the hope that maybe, _maybe_ , his mother was right. But there was that constant piece of doubt in his mind that kept telling him it wasn’t worth the risk.

‘But what if he hurts me again?’ He wondered out loud.

‘Robbe, honey, you are, or were, in a secret relationship with the crown prince of our country.’ His mother told him. Hearing it said out loud made him laugh a little. ‘I think that you were setting yourself up to get hurt the moment you let yourself care for that boy. But I don’t think he would come all the way here if he were planning to hurt you again. At least, in the way that he hurt you before.’

‘So you think that I should go after him?’

‘I think that this is probably the stupidest thing you have ever done.’ The two of them laughed. ‘But do you love this boy?’ Robbe looked at his feet as he thought about his answer, but if he was honest with himself, he knew what it was as soon as his mother asked the question.

‘I do.’ He admitted.

‘And he clearly loves you. He did something he regrets, Robbe. We all do that sometimes. I think he deserves the opportunity to explain himself. If you don’t like what you hear, you can always still leave him, but at least you won’t live your whole life wondering.’ Robbe kept looking at his feet. He didn’t want to put himself in a vulnerable position again. He wanted to be strong.

‘Robbe.’ His mother said. He finally decided to look up and into her eyes. ‘If someone were to find out about your magic, wouldn’t you want them to give you the opportunity to speak for yourself? Wouldn’t you want them to see all the good things about you, as opposed to this one bad thing?’ Robbe silently nodded. ‘Then don’t you think you should grant other people that same thing?’ Robbe thought back at all the good things about Sander. He had such an amazing passion for art. No one had ever made Robbe the way Sander did. All those amazing drawings, which contained every intricate detail of Robbe’s face. But also Sander’s love for Bowie, and the way he could talk for hours about how that man inspired him. How gentle he was with Robbe. How he made him feel safe and wanted. How there was absolutely no other person on this world whose soul matched with Robbe’s the way his did. And that is when Robbe knew what an idiot he’d been.

‘Fuck.’ He exclaimed. He darted out of the room and up the stairs. He grabbed his bag and stuffed a couple pieces of clothing in it. He walked over to the bathroom, threw his toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and soap in the bag and ran downstairs again. He should have just listened to Sander. He could have given him one minute. Just one minute and the prince would have probably been able to explain why he acted the way he did. But Robbe, like the stupid boy he was, didn’t allow him to do that. He hurriedly slipped his shoes and coat on, and as he opened the front door he heard his mother approach him and turned around.

‘Please be careful.’ She pleaded. Robbe walked towards her and embraced her, letting himself melt into the feeling of his mother’s touch.

‘I will. I promise.’ He told her as he let go.

Robbe took the bus, train and tram back to the palace. He was anxious the entire way there. He found himself fidgeting with his phone. What if he had fucked everything up for good? What if he had ruined the last chance he had to be with Sander? Every possible scenario played out in his mind. He tried his best to distract himself by listening to music, but his thoughts just kept racing endlessly.

The palace gate was locked. He looked around to see if he could find a guard, finally spotting Senne in the distance and calling out to him.

‘Robbe?’ Senne said as he approached the gate. ‘What are you doing back?’

‘I need to get inside.’ Robbe told him.

‘Weren’t you fired?’

‘Please.’ Robbe pleaded. Senne sighed, but finally unlocked the gate to let Robbe in.

‘If you tell anyone about this…‘ Senne threatened.

‘I won’t, I promise.’ Robbe said as he started walking towards the palace. ‘Thank you.’

He made his way through the corridors of the palace. For some reason the walk to Sander’s room felt longer than it ever had before. Every second he doubted more and more whether this was the right choice. Maybe he should just go home and never look back.

He entered Sander’s wing of the palace, immediately heading towards his bedroom. He took a deep breath, trying his best to calm his nerves, and opened the bedroom door. Sander was nowhere to be seen.

‘Shit.’ He whispered to himself. He wondered what he should do now, since he couldn’t just go around the palace looking for him and risk being seen by someone who would report it to the king. He could just stay there and wait, but he didn’t know where Sander was or what he was doing. It could take ages for him to return. He shouldn’t have come here out of the blue, he should have texted Sander first. But then, he remembered that there was another place Sander could be. His studio. Robbe quickly left the bedroom and walked towards the studio. This time he didn’t hesitate. He turned the doorknob and swung the door open. And there he was, sitting at his desk in the corner of the room. The bright overhead lights made the dark roots in his bleached hair more visible. The soft strokes of pencil against paper stopped as soon as Sander noticed that there was someone in the doorway. He pivoted on his stool.

‘Robbe?’ He said hoarsely, his eyes looked like he had been crying. Had Robbe really made him cry? He couldn’t dream of doing that to Sander, he felt horrible. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to run over and hold Sander, but he managed to control his emotions and stand still in the door opening.

‘You have five minutes.’ Robbe tried to say as emotionless and monotonous as he could muster. The prince stood up and started heading in his direction. The closer he got, the more Robbe could feel his chest tighten.

‘You really want me to believe you brought a whole bag of clothes to give me only five minutes?’ Sander joked as he gestured towards the bag hanging on Robbe’s shoulder.

‘I can still leave…’ Robbe said as he took a step towards the corridor.

‘No.’ He felt a hand grip his arm. He turned around and met Sander’s eyes, which were filled with sadness. ‘Please stay.’ Sander pleaded.

‘Then talk.’

‘Robbe, I just… I mean I….’ Sander stammered. ‘I’m really sorry. The way I acted, I… You really didn’t deserve that. You are the most amazing person I have ever met, and I’m so sorry about what I said to you.’ Robbe had never seen Sander like this. So broken. So vulnerable. It took all of Robbe’s willpower to keep himself from immediately embracing him and holding him.

‘It’s just that…’ The other boy continued. ‘All my life, everything has been fabricated for me. These feelings I have for you, are the first real thing I’ve ever felt. Nobody instructed me on how I should feel about you. It all just came so naturally, and it all happened so quickly. I knew the moment I first saw you that you weren’t like everyone else. I knew that you were the one. When I realized that I’d fallen in love with you I panicked. I knew that I would never be able to love you in the way that you deserve. I mean, I’m a prince. I have obligations. Anyway… I just didn’t know what to do, and I just… it felt like my brain just exploded.’

‘Like Chernobyl?’

‘Yeah, like Chernobyl.’ Robbe knew exactly what Chernobyl felt like. It’s what him and his mom used to call the busts of magic he’d emit when he got emotional. His Chernobyls had broken a lot of things around him, and it had scared his mother many times. It had made Robbe scared of himself, and what he might do if he can’t control himself.

Sander was looking at the floor, tears started to form in his eyes. Robbe knew that he needed to reach out to him, to show him that he understood how Chernobyl felt. He slowly extended his arm to put his hand on the other boy’s cheek. He hesitated for a short second, remembering what happened the last time he attempted to do this. But then, he touched Sander’s cheek. And nothing had ever felt so right. His body had been craving Sander’s touch so much, and now that he could finally feel him again, everything fell into place.

‘Sander.’ Robbe whispered. Sander looked up, his beautiful green eyes met Robbe’s. For a few second they just stayed there in complete silence. They were just there. Together. Just the two of them, in their own little world.

‘I never expected to fall in love with you either.’ Robbe said after a while. ‘It’s probably the last thing I ever expected to happen, if I’m honest. But it happened, and I don’t regret a single second of it. I knew the moment I kissed you in that pool that what you and I have was going to be complicated. But it just felt so right, that I was prepared to endure anything if only it meant you would keep kissing me. And that’s still the case. You may be a prince, but you’re also the most normal and down to earth person I know. This relationship we have here, it has two people. Maybe you feel guilty that you will never be able to be with me properly, but I agreed to those terms a long time ago, and I’m not planning to change my mind.’

A smile appeared on Sander’s face, and because of that Robbe smiled too.

‘Us two, forever.’ Sander said.

‘Us two, for now at least.’ Robbe giggled.

‘For now at least.’ Robbe leaned in and planted a kiss on Sander’s lips. It started slow and tender, but the two were quickly overcome by passion and lust. Robbe had never missed anyone as much as he’d missed Sander. He felt the other boy push him against the wall, the kiss deepening every passing second. Robbe just wanted to touch every part of Sander’s body. He wanted to feel him, every part of him. Their lips didn’t part for a second as they made their way towards the bedroom. Robbe took his coat off. Then, he felt Sander’s hands under his sweater. He raised his arms to allow the prince to take it off for him. Robbe returned the favor by taking off Sander’s shirt. The two of them fell onto the bed, constantly hungrily kissing each other, as if this was simultaneously the first and last time that they would be intimate like this. That could be the case. The truth was, Robbe didn’t know what the future held, neither did Sander. All he knew was that they had right here and right now, and he wanted to enjoy every second of it. Their lips parted only for Sander to move on to kissing Robbe’s jaw, then his neck, and then down his chest.

‘Sander.’ Robbe breathed. The other boy stopped kissing and pushed himself up so that he hovered above Robbe.

‘What is it?’ Sander asked.

‘I’ve never done this before.’ Robbe admitted.

‘We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.’

‘No, I want to.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘One hundred percent.’ Sander smiled broadly and leaned in to kiss Robbe. First, a short peck, and after that he returned for a deeper, more intense kiss. As he felt Sander’s hand intertwine with his, Robbe knew that he had made the right decision.

When he woke up the next morning, he forgot where he was for a few seconds. Then he remembered, and a broad smile appeared on his face. He turned around, expecting to see the face of a sleeping prince beside him, instead he was greeted by an empty bed. Robbe sat up and reached for his phone on the nightstand, thinking that maybe Sander sent him a message that he had to go somewhere. There was nothing. The only messages he had were from his mom, which read: ‘ _Did you arrive yet?’ ‘How did it go?’ ‘Since you’re not replying to me I’ll assume it went well.’_ Robbe smiled at how kind and caring his mother was. He wouldn’t have even come here if it wasn’t for her. He slid out of bed and slipped on one of Sander’s shits. As he was just about to put on a pair of pants, he was startled by the sound of the bedroom door opening. Sander steed in the door opening in his full morning glory. He was holding a tray filled with breakfast foods.

‘What are you doing out of bed?’ He complained. ‘I made you breakfast in bed, but I can’t give it to you if you’re not in bed.’ Robbe chuckled as Sander walked in his direction with a prideful smile.

‘You _made_ breakfast, huh?’ Robbe asked as he grabbed one of the croissants he very clearly recognized as the ones from the palace breakfast buffet.

‘Okay fine, I went downstairs and got you breakfast.’ Sander admitted. ‘But it’s the thought that counts, right?’

‘Yes it is.’ Robbe said as he grabbed the tray out of Sander’s hands and placed it on the bedside table. Then, he grabbed the other boy’s face and kissed him passionately.

‘Well, get on the bed then.’ Sander said after he pulled away from Robbe’s lips. Sander playfully pushed Robbe onto the bed, the younger boy had just enough time to react and grab onto Sander’s arm, making him fall too and land on top of Robbe. The two of them burst into laughter, which turned into a heated make out session.

Sander saw to it that Robbe could return to his old position the same day. The whole situation provoked some confused glances from other members of the royal family and the staff, but Robbe was on cloud nine so he couldn’t have cared less in the moment. He was just happy to be back. He also enjoyed seeing his friends again, especially Milan and Jens, who tried to interrogate Robbe on what had happened with Sander, but quickly gave in when they realized that there was no use. Zoë updated Robbe on all the latest happenings in the palace. Apparently Sander had been given three new assistants since Robbe left, and he had fired every single one of them the minute he met them. He was very happy to learn this information, and teased Sander with it afterwards. Robbe was happy to be back, it felt right. Being alongside Sander everyday felt right. He wondered what would’ve happened if it hadn’t been for his mom. He would’ve probably still been sulking in his room, wondering what if.

‘I’m so glad you’re back, man.’ Robbe was talking to Jens at another one of the great staff parties.

‘I’m glad to be back.’ He had to yell to be understandable. ‘I missed you.’

‘I still don’t understand what happened between you and Prince Sander.’ Jens told him. ‘I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone being fired and re-hired in a 3-day span.’

‘We just had a misunderstanding.’ Robbe tried to be as vague as possible. ‘But it’s all good now.’

‘I guess he really isn’t as bad as everyone always makes him out to be.’

‘He’s just a normal guy like you and me.’ Robbe explained. ‘He was just dealt shitty cards in life.’

‘Shitty cards?’ Jens chuckled. ‘Living in a palace, being the future king, yeah some really shitty cards.’

‘Not everything is as black-and-white as it appears, Jens.’ He opened his mouth to continue talking when his phone pinged to indicate a text message. It was from Sander, he had sent Sander a picture of the starry night, with a message that read: ‘ _Missing my favorite star._ ’ Robbe snorted and shook his head at the older boy’s cheesiness.

‘I have to go.’ He told Jens.

‘What?’

‘Yeah, duty calls.’ Robbe raised the hand holding his phone as indication that Sander needed him. It wasn’t a complete lie, Sander _did_ need him, just not in the way Jens would expect.

‘Alright, well talk to you later.’

Robbe left the staff building and headed towards his favorite bench in the garden. Sander’s hair was immediately visible under the moonlight. The prince was attentively looking up at the stars.

‘I missed this place.’ Robbe said as soon as he was within Sander’s earshot. The other boy swiftly turned his head and smiled at the sight of Robbe.

‘I missed you company.’ Sander told him. ‘Life’s a lot more boring without you.’ Robbe planted himself next to Sander on the bench and intertwined their hands.

‘I missed your company, too.’ Robbe told Sander. ‘So much.’ He rested his head on the blond boy’s shoulder.

‘Please don’t ever leave again.’ Sander pleaded.

‘As long as you don’t fire me again…’

‘I won’t, I promise.’

‘Then I promise that I won’t leave you.’

‘Not even when I’m being a royal pain in your ass.’

‘Sander, you’re always a royal pain in my ass.’ Sander snorted and shook his head and both boys giggled. Sander reached into his pocket and took out a joint. He rested it between his lips and lit it with his lighter. He took a long drag and leaned his head back as he breathed out the smoke.

‘Do you want some?’ He offered Robbe, who gladly snatched the joint out of Sander’s fingers and brought it up to his mouth to take a drag.

‘I can’t believe this is my life.’ Robbe said as he handed the joint back. Sander hummed quizzically.

‘Smoking weed in the palace gardens with the crown prince in the middle of the night.’ Robbe elaborated, at which Sander laughed.

‘Yeah, I guess it’s all pretty bizarre.’ He admitted. After sitting in silence for a few seconds, Robbe’s stomach rumbled.

‘Are you hungry?’ Sander asked as he leaned away from Robbe to be able to look at him properly, forcing Robbe to stop leaning on his shoulder and sit up properly.

‘Just a little.’ Robbe admitted. ‘But it’s fine.’

‘We should get something to eat.’ Sander suggested.

‘It’s fine, really.’

‘No, I won’t have it. We are going to eat something.’ Sander quickly stood up, his hand was still interlocked with Robbe’s and he pulled the smaller boy off the bench.

‘Sander.’ Robbe whined.

‘Come on.’ Sander pulled Robbe with him as he started walking in the direction of the palace. Robbe sighed and let himself be dragged along.

‘Why do you always take me to such mysterious places?’ Robbe asked as he blindly followed the prince through the palace.

‘The kitchen isn’t that mysterious, is it?’ Sander said.

‘You’re taking me to the kitchen?’

‘Where else were you planning on getting food?’ Sander giggled.

‘I just didn’t think that you would ever go to the kitchen.’

‘I don’t. But I’m making an exception for you.’ Sander smiled at Robbe, who shook his head and smiled back.

They finally reached the kitchen. Robbe hopped up on the counter as Sander opened the fridge and started rummaging through it.

‘What are you going to make?’ Robbe wondered out loud. Sander took butter, ham and cheese out of the fridge.

‘Croques.’ He said.

‘Croques?’ Robbe giggled, it was definitely the last thing he was expecting.

‘You don’t know what croques are?’ Sander asked as he started making them.

‘Of course I do. I’m just surprised, is all.’

‘My mom used to make them for me.’ Sander applied a thick coat of butter to both sides of the croque.

‘Your mom used to make food for you?’ Robbe asked. The sizzle of the pan indicated that the croque had entered the pan. Sander turned around to face Robbe.

‘Yeah, she wasn’t a fan of the whole royalty thing.’ Robbe stared into Sander’s beautiful green eyes.

‘Is that why you aren’t as well?’

‘I guess so.’ Sander admitted. ‘I just wish my mom was still around. She would’ve understood me a lot better than my dad.’ He turned around to flip the croque over.

‘Mothers aren’t always everything either, trust me.’ Robbe told him. ‘I mean, I love my mom so much, but sometimes it would’ve been nice to have a father around.’

‘What happened to your dad?’ Sander asked. ‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.’

‘No, it’s alright. I want to. He left us when I was really young, I don’t even remember him.’

‘Impossible.’ Sander mumbled.

‘What?’

‘It’s impossible that anyone could ever not love you’

‘Tell my dad that.’

‘I just might. What’s his name?’

‘Sander.’ Robbe sang. Sander turned around and removed the croque from the pan. He cut it in half and approached Robbe holding one of the halves.

‘Get ready to be mindblown.’ Sander stated as he held the croque in front of Robbe’s mouth for him to take a bite, which he did. It was truly the best thing he had ever tasted. Not because the croque was so extraordinary, but because Sander had made it for him. The croque was filled with love and care, in a way that Robbe had never experienced before.

‘And?’ Sander asked. ‘Best croque ever?’

‘Yeah.’ Robbe giggled. ‘Best croque ever.’ Sander leaned in and planted a tender kiss on Robbe’s lips. Robbe wrapped his arms around Sander’s neck, and Sander simultaneously grabbed Robbe’s waist, the two boys getting lost in each other’s touch.

‘You know that I have two days off this weekend, right?’ Sander asked after their lips broke apart. Robbe looked at him with annoyance.

‘Sander, it’s my job to know that.’ He told the other boy.

‘Right. Well, I was thinking the two of us could do something special together.’

‘Like go to the orphanage?’ Robbe grabbed the remainder of the croque from the countertop and took a bite.

‘I was thinking more along the lines of something with just the two of us. Where we can just be together without the constant fear of someone finding out.’

‘And where would that be?’

‘It’s a surprise.’ Sander said smugly as he snatched the croque out of Robbe’s hand and took a bite. Robbe sighed.

‘You do realize that I’ll still have work to do then, right?’

‘I’ll figure something out.’ Sander promised.

‘Really?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Alright, then.’

‘Perfect.’ Robbe leaned in and took the last bite of the croque out of Sander’s hand. Which the blond boy protested at first, but he quickly forgot about when Robbe cupped his face and planted another sweet kiss on his lips.

Robbe returned home in the deep hours of the night, since it took him a lot of effort to convince Sander that it was in both their best interests for Robbe to sleep at home. When he entered his apartment he was greeted by Milan sitting on the couch in a bathrobe eating pasta.

‘What are you doing?’ Robbe asked him.

‘Late night cravings.’ Milan explained. ‘Where have you been? I didn’t see you at the staff party.’

‘I was there for a little while, but Sander needed me.’ Milan looked at him with a confused expression.

‘At this hour?’ He asked suspiciously.

‘He just needed my help with something, and afterwards we hung out for a little.’

‘You’re always so vague.’ Milan complained, which caused Robbe to panic. He knew he wasn’t the best liar but he was at least hoping that Milan wasn’t observant enough to notice that anything fishy was going on.

‘What can I say, Sander is a pretty private person.’ Robbe said, which wasn’t a lie, Sander really was private.

‘Anyway, I’m going to bed.’ Milan got up off the couch and placed his bowl in the sink. ‘Good night, Robbe.’

‘Good night.’ Robbe replied as Milan went into the bedroom, allowing Robbe to unfold the couch and try to sleep, too.

The next two days were quite uneventful. Robbe and Sander spent every possible minute together. Sometimes they would just cuddle in Sander’s bed, other times Robbe would lovingly admire Sander as he worked on his art in his studio. Robbe tried to convince Sander to apply to art school a few times, but constantly to no avail. Sander claimed that a prince didn’t have time for anything like that, and that his father would never approve since it would make the royal family look unprofessional. Robbe hated Sander’s father. He wasn’t necessarily a bad person. He allowed Robbe to return to his position with barely any hassle, he genuinely did seem to care about the citizens of Camelot, but at the same time he appeared to be stuck in the middle ages. He had such an outdated way of ruling his country, which caused the poor to become poorer and the rich to become richer. He was essentially ruining the country, and in the future Sander would have to take this broken country and try to be its king.

One afternoon the two of them were cuddling in bed, when Robbe decided to ask the question that had been occupying his brain for days.

‘Sander?’ He said.

‘Hmm.’ Sander replied with a hum.

‘Who’s Britt?’ Robbe asked as he looked up at the green eyes above him.

‘I was waiting for you to ask that.’ Sander said. ‘She’s the daughter of one of the most important men in this country. My father set me up with her at a young age, to keep her father happy. That dinner that night was a date.’

‘I figured.’ Robbe replied frankly, he traced Sander’s face with his fingertips.

‘After that dinner I had a conversation with my dad, and he-‘ Sander took a breath before he finished his sentence. ‘He told me I have to marry her.’ Those words shocked Robbe. Marry her. Of course he knew that one day Sander would have to find himself a queen, but this soon?

‘Aren’t you a little young to get married?’ Robbe asked.

‘It’s quite common for members of the royal family to get married at a young age. And now that Britt is eighteen it’s the perfect time.’ Sander explained. Robbe took a deep breath and processed the information he had just been given. He thought he would at least be able to stay with Sander for a while until he inevitably got married. He wasn’t prepared to let Sander go anytime soon.

‘Is that why your behavior changed so suddenly?’

‘It was just such a big reality check.’ Sander explained. ‘When I’m with you I just forget who I am – or rather – who I’m supposed to be. That night I was reminded of the fact that I still am just Prince Alexander of Camelot, and I always will be.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I’m so sorry about how I acted.’

‘I’ve already told you a hundred times.’ Robbe removed himself from Sander’s grip. He sat up and straddled the blond boy. ‘You don’t have to apologize.’

‘I know.’ Sander said. ‘But it’s just… you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I hate that we will always have to hide from the world. It’s not fair.’ Robbe bent forward, their noses touching.

‘You’re the best thing that’s happened to me, too.’ He said. Sander smiled at him and grabbed the back of his head, brining their lips together. Their lips parted and their tongues met in the middle. The kiss soon escalated into extreme passion. Robbe’s hands slipped under the prince’s shirt, and soon after that he took the shirt off. Sander did the same with Robbe’s shirt. And just as Robbe leaned back down to resume kissing, the two of them were startled.

‘Sander, what the fuck?!’ A voice sounded behind them. Robbe immediately turned around to find Eliza standing in the doorway. He immediately got off Sander’s lap and scrambled to find his shirt.

‘Eliza, what are you doing here?’ Sander asked, Robbe could hear panic in his voice. The same panic that was now taking over Robbe’s whole body. This was it, this was the end for them.

‘You weren’t answering your phone.’ Eliza said. ‘Now I can see why.’ Sander hastily got off the bed and walked towards his sister.

‘Couldn’t you have knocked?’ He said, his voice now more filled with anger than panic. Robbe, however, was still in full panic mode. It became harder and harder to breathe. He didn’t know what to do. He sat on the bed, frozen.

‘I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting…’ Eliza gestured towards Robbe.

‘Eliza, please-‘ Sander started to beg.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t say anything, I promise.’ Eliza said. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off of Robbe’s chest. He was finally able to breathe again.

‘Thank you so much.’ Sander said.

‘But sleeping with your assistant, Sander, _really_?’ Eliza said.

‘I’m not just sleeping with him, okay?’ Sander defended. ‘I’m in love with him.’ Robbe looked down as he blushed and felt a broad smile appear on his face.

‘Honestly, that’s even worse.’ Eliza stated. ‘You’re just stringing this poor boy along. You know that this whole thing can never leave this bedroom, right?’

‘It has actually left this room multiple times.’ Sander joked smugly. Eliza sighed.

‘You know what I mean.’ She said.

‘And he’s not stringing me along.’ Robbe finally had the confidence to speak. Both their heads turned in his direction. ‘I know that we can never have a normal relationship, and I accept that. It’s a mutual decision.’ He got off the bed and walked towards the two siblings.

‘I have to say, your behavior lately makes a lot more sense now.’ Eliza stated. ‘You’ve been a lot more tolerable. Except for those few days when Robbe was gone and you behaved like an asshole.’ Sander put an arm around Robbe as he joined the two of them.

‘Aww, did you miss me?’ Robbe said pseudo-mockingly as he looked up at the prince with a gleeful smile.

‘Oh, shut up you know I did.’ Sander replied.

‘He was so grumpy.’ Eliza told Robbe with a giggle. ‘And all those replacement assistants, they never stood a chance.’

‘No, no, no.’ Sander said. ‘The two of you are not allowed to start ganging up on me.’ Robbe and Eliza looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Eliza decided to share a bunch of embarrassing childhood stories about her brother, which Robbe thoroughly enjoyed. Robbe hadn’t really interacted with her up until this point, but he quickly found that she was really nice and funny, he understood why Zoë was so fond of her.

She kept her promise and didn’t tell anyone about Robbe and Sander’s relationship, however she claimed that her brother now owed her big-time and that she’d be needing him for something soon. She would regularly give Robbe and Sander teasing glances during meals and other events, which prompted a lot of eyerolls and secret middle fingers. She liked to tease them, but also constantly reminded them of how stupid and risky all of this was. If Robbe was honest, he really didn’t care about the risk anymore. He was just happy to be with Sander. To be the one laying in his arms and kissing his lips. To be the one he regularly drew and painted in his secret studio. The one who saw a side of Sander that nobody ever saw, and nobody probably ever would see. Eliza kept reminding them of the future, but they didn’t care about any of that, the only thing they cared about was the here and now. And here and now Robbe loved Sander and Sander loved Robbe, so nothing else mattered.

The weekend came around quickly. Robbe tried his best to get Sander to tell him what his plan was, but the blond boy refused to disclose it. The only thing Robbe knew was that they’d leave Friday evening and be back late on Sunday. Two whole days for just the two of them. It truly seemed to good to be true.

‘How did you manage to convince your dad to let you do this?’ Robbe was in the passenger’s seat of one of the many fancy cars the royal family owned, with Sander behind the wheel.

‘I guilt tripped him.’ Sander said.

‘What?’ Robbe giggled.

‘I told him that he owed me since I’m marrying Britt for his sake.’ The mention of Britt and the wedding immediately made Robbe tense. He hated the idea of having to watch the boy he loved get married to some random girl.

‘Do you have any idea when…’ Robbe started his question, but halfway he didn’t know if he should ask it.

‘When we’re getting married?’ Sander asked. Robbe nodded.

‘My dad wants us to officially get engaged next month, and then announce it during his birthday party.’ Sander explained. ‘As for when we’ll get married, probably in about a year. Royal weddings take super long to plan, it’s insane.’

‘Yeah, I saw the British royal wedding.’ Robbe said. ‘So excessive.’

‘By the way…’ Sander started. ‘I don’t think I want you there for any of the wedding-related things. I’ll ask the guy who’s covering for you this weekend to replace you for all those activities. I just don’t think I could handle you being there for any of that.’ Robbe sighed with relief at that statement.

‘I’m glad you said that.’ He told Sander. ‘I really don’t think I could handle watching you get married to someone else.’ Sander reached over and put his hand on Robbe’s lap, intertwining their fingers, which brought him a lot of comfort. Robbe loved all the conversations he had with Sander, it was when they touched that he really felt loved. Whenever Sander touched him it felt like electricity ran through his body. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before. He felt Sander slowly caress his hand with his thumb, which relieved a lot of his stress.

‘We’ll worry about all that later.’ Sander said. ‘For now, you and I are going to have the best weekend ever.’

They drove for about an hour, the majority of which was through a seemingly endless forest on a very narrow road. Whenever there was an oncoming car Robbe feared for his life, which made Sander laugh loudly. Finally, Sander turned onto a dirt road, which led up to a cabin of significant size. Sander parked the car and got out. Robbe was moving to do the same when Sander yelled:

‘Hold on, hold on.’ As he ran around the car to open Robbe’s door, which made him giggle.

‘Aren’t I the assistant in this relationship?’ He joked.

‘Normally you are.’ Sander said as he walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. ‘Which is why I will be doing all the work this weekend.’

‘Prince Sander actually doing work.’ Robbe joked. ‘Are you sure you can handle that?’ Sander looked at Robbe with an annoyed face as he grabbed their bags, closed the trunk and locked the car.

‘I’ll have you know that I’m totally capable of doing work.’ He claimed as he waltzed past Robbe towards the front door.

‘What about cooking?’ Robbe asked. ‘I wouldn’t want you to poison us.’

‘Do you not remember my world-class croques?’ Sander said offended. Robbe laughed.

‘We can’t exactly eat croques for every meal.’ He stated as he followed the prince, who was looking under the doormat, presumably for the key.

‘Says who?’ Sander asked. ‘Ah!’ He exclaimed as he lifted a potted plant, under which lay the key. He grabbed it and unlocked the door. The cabin was absurdly large, especially for just two people. It looked like it could probably house the inhabitants of a small village. Sander was visibly excited as he showed Robbe around the many rooms. The cabin even had its own jacuzzi and sauna, which Robbe found absolutely ridiculous. He wondered how the royal family could possibly have a good conscious owning something like this when so many people in Camelot were living in poverty. He remembered how at one point his mother was working three jobs just so that they could keep their heads above water. He had talked to Sander about this a couple of times, who had offered to pay off his mother’s mortgage, but Robbe had refused since that didn’t seem fair to the myriad of other people who had even less money than them.

Robbe first started to notice that something was off with Sander when they were cuddling in the giant king-size bed in the cabin’s master bedroom. However, Robbe knew Sander to be a pretty upbeat and excited person, especially since they had been looking forward to this trip all week, so he didn’t think that much of it.

‘You know, when we get married, I want to get married here.’ Sander said out of the blue.

‘You want to have your wedding here? Doesn’t your dad want you to get married in the cathedral?’ Robbe asked in confusion.

‘Not _my_ wedding, _our_ wedding.’ Sander corrected him.

‘Our wedding?’

‘Yes. You want to marry me right?’ Sander looked up at Sander with his adorable puppy eyes.

‘Of course I do.’ Robbe chuckled. ‘But you and I both know that’s not possible.’ Suddenly, Sander removed himself from Robbe’s grip and got out of the bed. Robbe tried to hold onto him, but he was moving too quickly.

‘We’ll throw a giant party.’ Sander exclaimed. ‘And we’ll only serve croques at dinner.’ Robbe sat up a little to be able to keep an eye on the naked prince, who was now prancing around the room.

‘Croques?’

‘And we’ll arrive in a white limo Tesla.’ Sander said as he grabbed a joint off the nightstand. He placed it between his lips and lit it with a lighter. Robbe watched as he started restlessly pacing around the room, he immediately felt cold due to the lack of the other boy’s touch.

‘Just come lie back down.’ He pleaded, but it was like Sander didn’t even hear him.

‘And we’ll go naked.’ Sander continued.

‘Naked?’ The conversation was starting to unsettle Robbe. There was something about the way Sander spoke and the way his eyes looked that just didn’t feel right.

‘I think it would be a great statement.’ Sander took another drag of the joint. ‘You know, like: this is us, and we have nothing to be ashamed of.’ Robbe really didn’t know what to respond anymore. Sander walked back to the side of the bed and stood over Robbe.

‘Take it or leave it.’ Sander said as he leaned forward. Robbe tried to put his finger on what was going on with Sander, but a voice told him that he was just being paranoid. That he was just looking for problems where there weren’t any. Sander had organized this wonderful weekend for them, and he wasn’t about to ruin it. He took a breath and leaned forward, making his lips meet Sander’s. And as soon as Sander was touching him again, he forgot about everything that just happened, as if Sander was the one with magic, and he cast a spell on Robbe.

‘You know, you’re right.’ Sander said after a while. The two of them had been cuddling again for a while, and the previous incident had completely left Robbe’s mind.

‘Hmm?’ Robbe hummed, not sure what Sander was talking about.

‘We can never get married.’ Sander clarified.

‘Let’s not worry about that right now.’ Robbe said. He really just wanted to lay in bed with Sander without having to worry about how complicated their lives were. That was the point of their trip in the first place.

‘I just never want this feeling to end.’ Sander mumbled. Robbe smiled and stroked his hair.

‘Me neither.’ He agreed. He really didn’t. This feeling of utter peace, was something he had never known before. For the first time in his life he felt like there was hope. Maybe not for their relationship, but for Robbe as an individual. Robbe finally felt like his life meant something. Like he wasn’t just the wizard who spent his entire life in the shadows. He finally felt human.

‘There’s a way we could hold onto this feeling forever.’ Sander’s voice awoke Robbe from his thoughts.

‘How?’ Robbe asked.

‘By dying with it.’ With those words, Robbe’s heart sank. He didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know how to feel about that statement. Robbe himself had thought about death a lot. It was just something that came with his magic. He knew that he was basically born to be executed. He didn’t have a fair shot at life like everyone else. But Sander, of all people, was talking about death. Sander, the most lively and upbeat person Robbe knew. Who was set to inherit the throne of Camelot. Who had so many dreams and ambitions. But then again he was also the boy who was stuck in a life he didn’t want. Who had passions he couldn’t pursue. Who had a love he had to hide. So maybe him talking about death wasn’t all that strange.

‘Don’t say that.’ Robbe managed. Sander looked up at him.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said. ‘It was just a joke.’

He didn’t know what time it was. He was in a state between being awake and asleep. He felt Sander slip out of his embrace while he was mumbling something about feeling hot. At first, Robbe didn’t think that much of it and just stayed with his eyes closed. But soon he felt cold air pour into the room and he opened his eyes. Sander had opened one of the windows and was hanging out of it.

‘What are you doing?’ Robbe asked as he shivered in the cold.

‘It’s hot.’ Sander said in between breaths. Robbe could hear that his breathing was starting to pick up, which concerned him. It sounded like a panic attack, which Robbe had had several times.

‘No it’s not, it’s freezing.’ Robbe said. ‘Please just close the window and come back to bed.’ Sander did walk back towards the bed, but he didn’t close the window. Robbe watched as Sander sat down on the edge of the bed. The blond boy bent over and hugged himself. He started clawing at his back, as if he was trying to crawl out of his own skin.

‘Sander, come on.’ Robbe pleaded as he reached out. Sander turned around to look at him, and finally returned to the bed. He crawled under the covers and embraced Robbe. The other boy’s body heat immediately warmed Robbe up again. Robbe could feel Sander sink into his arms, and it appeared as though his breathing started to slow down, so he told himself that it was nothing to worry about and tried to go to sleep.

When Sander left Robbe’s arms again, he was too tired to even try to stop him. He kept his eyes closed as he heard Sander say something about being hungry and going to look for food. He heard the bedroom door open and close Sander walk down the stairs. He sighed and turned in the bed, trying to become comfortable again without his lover’s embrace. However, it took a really long time for Sander to return, and after a while Robbe finally decided to see what he was up to. He slipped out of bed, slipped on underwear and a shirt and left the bedroom.

Sander wasn’t in the kitchen, it looked like he hadn’t even been there. Everything was just as they’d left it.

‘Sander?’ Robbe called out. There was no reply. He started looking in all the other rooms, but to no avail. He called out Sander’s name again and again. Then, he noticed that the front door was open, and he was confident that it wasn’t open before. He went outside and looked around. He felt his heartbeat get faster and faster. His chest hurt.

‘Sander!’ He yelled out as loud as he could.

‘Sander!’ He heard nothing. He tried to keep it together. He tried to keep breathing, because he needed to stay calm. For Sander. Because Sander was now out there in the woods somewhere. The prince of Camelot was outside in the middle of the night in the freezing cold completely naked. And Robbe had no idea what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!  
> Thank you so so much for all your kind comment you guys are truly the best!  
> I hope everyone is doing well.   
> Stay healthy. Stay safe.  
> All my love <3


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